I stared at him wide eyed for a good ten seconds.
“Yeah ... let’s move the plan forward!” I commented eagerly, “Let’s get this over with before he gets any ideas.”
“You heard what I just told you about rational decisions, right?”
“Yes! I’m actually very confident I can get all the copies. I’m in every computer, drive, phone, and cloud storage he, his goons, and all of his employees have access to.”
He watched me for a moment, and only responded when I gave him a confident nod.
“All right. Then let’s get you home first. Get dressed, get your gear and the USB drive with your evidence. I’ll put it in the safe here, just in case anybody has quick ideas.”
“I’ll need to visit my GP first. Getting my stitches out today.” I remembered.
“Reschedule for tomorrow. If this goes sideways, you’ll appreciate the extra support on those incisions.” he said, as he opened the door for me. “I’ll call Paul to get ready when you are.”
He followed me home with his own car. When we entered the house together, we saw all six adult members of the family gathered in the living room. Logan should be on his way back to college, and Ava and Maggie should be back in school, so their absence wasn’t unusual. What was unusual were their expressions and demeanor. It told us, at a single glance, that all my careful planning had gone to shit!
“What happened?” I asked into the room in a defeated voice.
“Logan’s message in the group chat.” Aaron explained, like I should know what he’s talking about.
“What group chat?” I asked.
“The family cha...” Grandpa started, but stopped when he remembered I wasn’t a member of that. Just then, he realized it wasn’t because I disliked Facebook and WhatsApp. So, he got his phone out and showed me.
“The fuck does he mean by ‘fixing it himself’? How!?” I shouted at this point.
The idiot just had to ruin everything! He didn’t have the money, he didn’t have the evidence, what the hell was he trying to do? Then it dawned on me, and I ran to my bedroom to look through my drawer. I seriously asked myself why I even went through all this shit for these people. Especially since I, after further thinking, realized I probably wouldn’t be sent to a group home anyway, but rather a halfway house. If I was sent anywhere in the first place, since I had a job and an apartment I already paid rent for.
“What?” Bill asked. He and the family had followed me into my room.
“The drive’s gone. He took the evidence I gathered about their operation.” I answered in a resigned tone.
I started my laptop, ignoring the family’s looks. When it was ready, I immediately logged into their surveillance camera overseeing the main office in the sports bar, presenting us with a great view of Logan, looking like he took a few good ones to the face.
My mind was racing, trying to figure out what to do next and how to salvage this situation. I wanted to immediately send the request to my C&C-server before they did anything with the videos as additional punishment for Logan. However, Claire and Danielle gasped upon seeing Logan in that state, which reminded me of what would happen if the videos vanished in the midst of THAT kind of situation. He was a fucking asshole, but there was a chance they would actually kill him. Looking at them, I remembered what Bill had just told me in his office, and pulled out my phone to type a message to Logan.
We heard them talk.
“I mean, it’s fucking stupid to try and make demands of me.” the owner told Logan, sounding quite amused and waving something in his hand. I suspected it was my USB drive with the evidence. “But I do appreciate that you brought this to me. Now I know exactly where to make changes. Doesn’t matter if you have copies or tell anyone. Nothing on here is definitive proof. By tonight, nothing you have will check out anymore.”
“Fucking hell...” I heard Bill breathe out, shaking his head.
Fucking hell, indeed. I was so done with this. I tried. All the work I put in, all the effort I had invested in helping these people, once again ruined and voided by my fucking brother.
“Now, here’s what’s going to happen.” the owner continued. “I’m done waiting for you to get my money together. You... ”
He was interrupted by someone coming into the room and wordlessly handing him a phone. After he looked at it for a minute, he started talking again.
“Who’s Tiny?”
“My ... my brother.” Logan answered in confused hesitance.
“Tiny?” Bill asked, amused.
“It’s the nickname they use for me to make fun of my small dick.” I gave my deadpan answer, jerking my head towards my family without taking my eyes off the screen to signify whom I meant by ‘they’.
I didn’t care how much Bill knew or learned anymore. From the corner of my eye I could see three things, though. First, Bill’s face that had instantly lost it’s amused look. Second, the uncomfortable feet-shuffling from my family. And, third, Bill throwing a confused and disbelieving look at John.
“You have a brother? How come we didn’t know about this?” We heard the voice from the Surveillance Feed again.
“We’re not... ” Logan starated to answer. Then he quickly lifted his head and continued in an almost desperate tone. “I used his money to pay you back, then he found all the stuff that’s on the drive. He was the one who put your guys in the hospital, too!”
I felt my stomach drop a few feet and paled. Bill grunted next to me. The fucker was trying to sell me out to save himself. The rest of the family just looked on anxiously.
“And how did he get all this?” the owner asked, once again holding up the Stick.
“I don’t really know. He does computer stuff for a security company.”
“OH, FOR FUCK’S SAKE!” I called out.
“Calm down.” Bill’s hand strongly gripped my shoulder. “Remember what I said about scared people and rational decisions!”
“Security makes sense.” the owner mused. “Probably asked around with the local bouncers and shit. Doesn’t matter anyway. But my guys will want a piece of him to make it even again. Looks like your family’s debt just went up again. I’ll give you all a way to make it up to us. According to your Bro, your grandmother fell and broke a hip or some shit. They’ll be taking care of her for a few days. When they’re back, I want you to invite them here. It’s about time we all had a talk about how to get me my money’s worth.”
“Okay, sure! I’ll talk to them as soon as they’re back!” Logan eagerly agreed.
And just like that, they gave him his phone back and threw him out of the bar.
“Quick thinking, Kid.” Bill commended me. The others in the room just looked at us questioningly, so he addressed the others. “He just bought us a few days to come up with a new plan.”
“What new plan!?” Grandpa asked, “We have to call the police!”
“With what!?” I asked angrily, “You heard the man. Logan gave them everything I had on them, and now they’ll just use that as a fucking instruction manual on to avoid prosecution. It’s not like I found a spreadsheet titled ‘Proceeds from illegal gambling’. All we had was circumstantial evidence and paper trails that would’ve checked out if the police had used it to raid their bar, or their warehouse, or set them up somehow. But now they’ll move their stuff and change their meeting places, and we have no idea where to.”
“But Logan is in danger!” Claire protested, “You saw him, they already hurt him! The police has to do something!”