by Delmire Hart
It was exceedingly important that those two saw eye to eye, and he suspected they had figured out where they stood with each other that afternoon. Demetrius had received the report on the planning for this evening and Ueda mentioned that Daniel had apologised for causing them so much work. The more William saw of Ueda’s work, the more impressed and convinced he was that the man was the perfect choice to lead Daniel’s security team. The parkour course, training, and equipment suggestions, as well as his insightful selection of team members all pointed to a great team leader. He had also been reported to be doggedly determined, fiercely protective of friends, and loyal to the core. He could see already how that protectiveness extended to his team and Daniel.
Voices rang out quietly confirming the arrival of their targets. A few minutes later and the tell-tale click of a camera shutter could be heard. William wasn’t aware of what he was hearing in the background until Daniel whispered into the channel.
“Man, they're loud. Can you guys hear them outside?”
A voice William didn’t recognise confirmed that they could. Silence reigned for a while except for the occasional snaps of the camera and the low hum of the background chatter. An odd sound followed by a few muffled curses caught his attention.
“They turned the lights on! What the hell!” Daniel hissed, offended.
“This isn’t normal?” Ueda questioned and Daniel snorted at his words.
“Are you kidding? The entire warehouse is lit up. Are they asking to get caught?” He paused before quietly exclaiming, “They're getting louder. This is ridiculous.”
“You sound personally offended,” Ueda replied, clearly amused.
“Yeah, well. This is my job and it feels like they're just inviting the entire neighbourhood down with the lights and the noise. This is a far cry from when I was tailing Barrett.”
“They do appear to be pretty upset over something.”
Daniel only hummed in reply and the line lapsed back into temporary silence.
“More vehicles incoming,” a new voice whispered.
The sudden tension over channel was almost palpable. The next five minutes were agonising as vague sounds played out of the speakers but no one spoke.
“The fat man looks like he thinks he’s important, no idea who he is, though.” There was a small snicker over the line that was quickly muffled at Daniel’s idle comment. “The blond looks familiar though.”
“Keep an eye on that briefcase.” Ueda’s whispered hiss was tense still.
“Who the fuck carries a briefcase full of cash now days?!” Daniel’s affronted hiss caused more snickers over the channel. “I’m serious. This is so unprofessional, it’s not funny.”
More muffled chuckles. The sheer offense in Daniel’s voice had William chuckling along as well and even Ken’s lips twitched in amusement. A muffled thud caused William’s heart to jump into his throat and the suddenly tense silence stretched out.
“Let’s be careful of that box, I really don’t want to have to drop you off at the hospital for falling off the ledge, Daniel.” Ueda’s hushed voice broke the tension in William’s shoulders.
“Ugh, yeah. Hospital food is awful. If I end up in hospital someone bring me lunch, okay?” There was silence for a beat then more muffled snickers. William shook his head and both Ken and Demetrius had small smiles at the antics.
“How about we just don’t get injured, yeah?” Ueda said wryly.
“Fine. Oh, I figured out who the blond is.”
“Yeah?”
“Pretty sure he’s the manager of Syndrome.”
The smiles were wiped off instantly and William traded hard looks with Demetrius and Ken. He didn’t know the details on the scoop Daniel was chasing, but he hadn’t authorised any underground business to be handled by Stefan. Which meant Stefan was doing things on the sly again or it was personal. Regardless of what the photos showed, an investigation would have to take place. It would take a few weeks to investigate Stefan and they would have to be careful not to alert the man to the surveillance. Which irked William no end. The man had already been treading on thin ice and William would like to just be done with him but if all his movements weren’t checked out, there could be fallout if he was suddenly removed. The last thing he wanted was a deal he had no part in creating backlash with the man’s demise. Not good for business that. Ueda’s voice brought him back to the present.
“I need to get a photo to send off to the boss.”
“You’re not going to get a clear shot on a phone from this distance,” Daniel pointed out. “I’ve already snapped off a few while I was trying to figure out where I knew him from. I can send them to you once we get back.”
“Thanks.”
“I take it that it’s bad he’s here?”
Ueda took a moment before he responded in a whisper, “I think that depends on what he’s doing here.”
Another small lapse of silence punctuated by Daniel’s camera snapping before the photographer huffed out, “Seriously, who carries around that much cash?”
The rest of the stakeout was uneventful, although it took some time before they deemed it safe enough to leave. The mission wasn’t declared complete until they all safely reached Daniel’s apartment, where the change of guard waited. The air in the office remained tense while they waited for the call from Ueda about the photos. Finally, Demetrius’s phone rang and he confirmed Ueda was sending them through to all three of them. Inside an email, photos showed Stefan clear as day along with a few William didn’t recognise. He looked up at Ken who frowned.
“Did you recognise any of the others?”
The secretary nodded and pushed his glasses up. “Yes, the large man with the briefcase is Charles Lawrence. He is rumoured to be involved in human trafficking, although I can’t confirm that for certain.”
William’s gaze hardened. “Get the report off Ueda, we need to know what intel Daniel was given, since it might give us a hint what they were doing. I want Stefan tailed and an investigation into what he is involved in. He does not get alerted to this until we have the information we need, I do not want to cause issues at the club unless necessary.”
Both Ken and Demetrius nodded before excusing themselves to get everything underway. It was late but the sooner they put the plans in place the better. There had been a lot of things that Stefan dabbled in that William had ignored due to his usefulness but his patience had run out and Stefan would be out of his hair in less than a month. He better not have sold any information on William or Synnite, since betrayal was the one thing that the businessman took the most seriously. No one betrayed him and lived long to tell the tale.
William always personally made sure of it.
Chapter Nineteen: Indecision
Daniel pulled up on his scooter outside the newspaper office he freelanced for. He was ready to drop off the photos he had taken the night before to his editor. If he was honest, he wasn't sure the photos and article would make it to print. Generally politicians would bribe the paper to stop the press from running the article. There wasn’t enough evidence to take into the police to press charges, so the only thing the paper could do was slander the name and reputation of the person caught in the photos. It irked Daniel no end that taking the bribes was considered a legitimate source of income for the paper. It felt as shady as the people he caught in his viewfinder but he couldn't do anything until he had more concrete proof of misdeeds and corruption.
He dithered over which photos to hand in for a good part of the night before finally giving in and calling William. It dug at his conscience; he was a journalist, he shouldn't worry over who was caught in his viewfinder. If someone was doing something shady and got caught, they deserved what was coming to them. But now William was in the picture. He had his soulmate to consider and he didn't want to cause the man any trouble. It was tearing him apart with what to do. He had many photos clearly showing the manager of Syndrome and a number where his face wasn't shown but everyone else was.
&nb
sp; Which did he hand in?
His decision was made when William was more than happy to throw the man under the bus.
“He was stupid enough to dabble in underground dealings and get caught. He can take what's coming to him, it doesn’t matter to me. I can get a replacement for him any time. Even if it doesn't go to print like you think might happen, I've already got an investigation underway into his activities. I do not appreciate my staff moving in circles with human traffickers and potentially tarnishing the reputation of my clubs. And if he has stooped low enough as to betray me and sell information on Synnite then he has far more to fear than ending up on the front page of a newspaper.”
The dark tone of William's voice sent shivers down Daniel’s spine. It was clear that betrayal was something William took seriously. So it was with no regret that Daniel took all the photos into his editor along with a small article on who the people were. He had learned that the self-important looking man with all the cash was Charles Lawrence, a small-time politician who had been rumoured to take bribes but had no darker gossip against his name before now.
Daniel hadn't known for sure he was involved in the trafficking circuit until William mentioned it. However, between that comment and the intel involving people moving in on the remains of Barrett’s network, it was clear Lawrence was trying to move in on the space left after the arrests and make himself some dirty money. Looks like this was another person to add to his list to bring down permanently.
Daniel made his way into the busy building that housed all the permanent newspaper staff and made his way to his editor’s office. It was almost nice to not be followed by his guards into the building. Not that they were bad people by any means but sometimes it felt like they were babysitting him. He only had time to wonder if they were discreet enough to not get noticed loitering around outside before he was knocking on a familiar door. There was a muffled yell to enter almost at once and Daniel let himself in.
The office was hazy with smoke and papers were strewn across the wooden desk and filing cabinets that took up most of the room. The editor himself sat in a large office chair that had seen better days and looked up at Daniel’s entry. He grinned, large and greedy, and sat back in his chair, ignoring what he had been working on to give his full attention to the photographer. The man was large, belly straining the buttons on his shirt and what was left of his hair was in disarray. A half-smoked cigarette hung from his thin lips and an overflowing ash tray sat at his elbow. It must have been a busy morning if the editor was chain smoking again.
“Ah, Miller! I hope you have some juicy gossip for me this morning!”
“Gil,” Daniel said by way of greeting as he approached the desk to hand over his USB stick. “Some interesting photos I took last night. The tip off was that people are trying to move into what's left of Barrett’s territory.”
The editors face lit up and he eagerly accepted the USB. Inserting it into his laptop and hurriedly pulling up open the photos, Gil was practically bouncing in his seat and crowing in delight.
“Oh, looks like Lawrence is being a bad boy, huh? Excellent work, Miller. I'll make sure to pass any leads through to you about this guy and put a bonus into your account. This on the tail of Barrett’s arrest? People are going to eat it up! You have a base article with all the names already?”
Daniel nodded and pointed out the document stored amongst the photos.
“Needs a bit of work but it's got all the info the editing team needs.” He turned and slapped Daniel on the shoulder over the desk. “You keep bringing in stuff like this and you'll be the star of the paper in no time.”
Daniel blushed and stammered his thanks as Gil copied the documents across to his computer.
“Speaking of juicy photos, we got a tip off that might interest you,” the editor said as he handed back the USB stick.
Daniel slipped the storage device into his pocket and turned back to his editor in interest. “Yeah?”
“William Hunt.”
Daniel froze at the name. His heart leapt into his throat and he had to force himself to calm down as the man continued on oblivious to the photographer’s discomfort.
“Apparently there's a meeting going down at the warehouses in a few days’ time and his name's attached. I know you've chased him before and if anyone can get dirt on him, it's you.”
“I…uh…”
Daniel’s thoughts whirled. On the one hand, he wanted to know all the parts of his soulmate, all the dirty bits included, and it wasn't like he had much luck asking William directly. He also warned William that he would find out eventually, even if he had to chase him with his camera. It would also stop the editor giving it to someone else to potentially uncover. If anyone was going to expose William it would be Daniel.
No one else was allowed to.
And yet…he wanted to find out from the man himself. He wanted the trust that came with the shared knowledge. He wanted William to trust him enough to show all of himself to Daniel. Willingly baring the depths of his soul.
Daniel pulled himself from his musing and looked up at his editor. There was also a good chance that just like the last time he tried to chase the elusive man, it was all a setup to cover the real details and would only lead to wasted hours and effort. Also, what would he tell the team? ‘Oh, yeah, I'm trying to catch your boss red handed. Help me out?’
“Ah, I think I'll pass this time.”
“Really?” Gil raised an eyebrow at him in surprise. “That doesn't sound like my gung-ho Miller.”
“Honestly, every time I tried to catch him it ended up being a setup,” Daniel replied as he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. “A lot of wasted hours for nothing and I really like to eat, you know? No photos means no pay. I like actually being able to pay my rent for once.”
“Hmm. I suppose that's true. I'll pass you anything I hear about Lawrence, though. I know you like to get them behind bars and not just bad mouthed in the tabloids.”
“Thanks.”
With a small wave, Daniel made his way out of the building and back towards where he parked his scooter. He even managed to avoid talking with Matt on his way out. The man had something of a grudge against him for singlehandedly getting the scoop on Barrett and subsequently getting all the glory. Since the massive public blowup and arrest, Daniel would be lucky to get off with an evil look from his rival. Often he would be the target of stupid taunts and high-handed remarks before escaping the office.
He nodded to Cameron, who was on duty today, and accepted his helmet as he passed it over. His mind still swirled with thoughts of his soulmate. How long had he known the man now? Barely a few months yet it felt like so much longer. He wanted to know more about him. What had caused the painful nightmare? What darkness lurked behind his masked façade? Daniel sighed as he pulled on his helmet and sat on his scooter, preparing to leave. He had tried talking seriously with the man so many times since the nightmare and got shut out or distracted each time. It was time to ask his friends what to do; he had run out of ideas on his own.
***
“Dan!” Rafael said enthusiastically and Daniel smiled at the warm greeting.
“Hey, guys, how’s it going?”
“Good. It's nice to be able to have this catch up as normal and not worry about your safety when you can't show up.” Marcus glanced over at the two guards grabbing takeaway coffees and moving to sit at one of the outside tables. “I'm guessing they are from the team you mentioned over email?”
“Yeah,” Daniel said then sighed. “I can't go anywhere without them. They generally stay outside if I'm going into a house or a small shop but if I go to the mall or supermarket, they come with me and it really feels like I'm being babysat.”
“At least you're safe.” Daniel pulled a face at his friend but only received a serious look in return. “I'm serious, Dan. Your job alone is enough to have scary people after you. We were pretty worried when you said you nearly got beaten up after you got that politician arrested. William
was obviously worried as well. Isn't it nice to have someone care about you?”
“Maybe,” Daniel said as he laid his head dejectedly on the table.
“Trouble in paradise?” Rafael asked as leaned forward to poke Daniel’s shoulder.
“Who said it was paradise?” Daniel replied wryly. “It's just been one big whirlwind of craziness.”
“Man, you've got a rich sugar daddy who wants to give you everything and is apparently good enough in bed to make you blush at any mention of it.”
“Rafael!” Daniel squeaked and buried his rapidly reddening face in his hands.
“See?” Rafael grinned at his flustered friend and Marcus shook his head, hiding a smile.
“You know, money doesn't mean less problems. Pretty sure it usually means more problems, just a different kind.”
Daniel shot Marcus a grateful look as he finally lowered his hands from his still flushed face. “I don't care about his money. It's him I care about and I still can't get him to talk about that nightmare.” The photographer frowned before continuing slowly, “When I dropped off the photos from last night’s stakeout, my editor said he had intel with William’s name on it. I mean, I know he's not clean, his name's been bandied around the police station often enough and he never denied it when I brought it up. I just…have mixed feelings on it all. I turned down the intel but…I want to know. I want to know him regardless of what he's like under the stupid mask he wears. I want him to tell me, though, and he won't let me in.”
