Taming Hall

 “Do you have a visual on them?” “No sir, switching to night mode now.” “Have them brought to me the moment you have them in your custody.” “Yes sir.” William Hall stood in the room and watched as his father gave out orders over the encrypted line only used to communicate within the ranks of the organization. The Hall family had received word that a new upcoming gang was cutting off their supply of products meant to be delivered at the restaurants owned by the family in Chicago, Ryan Hall had immediately dispatched a few enforcers of his to deal with the situation and bring all the members of the new gang to him. The Hall family was one of the largest organizations in the world, their business ranged from local and international restaurants to casinos and everything possible in the commercial world, they were ruthless and feared among all others around the world with associates of their among the different positions in the governments of the world. Ryan Hall had taken over the position at the head of the organization when he was barely 20 and he had built it from near ruin with sheer will, he fell in love and got married to Melissa, the only woman who held his love and admiration right from the day they first met till date. Together their love had brought four children and they made sure they trained them in all ways of combat and management skill, their training had paid off their children not only excelled in every aspect of life but had grown up to be calculating, kind when they needed to be but ruthless and cold blooded nonetheless. William was the oldest and from a young age he was taught every possible way there was to kill a person, like his siblings after him he was sent to the best schools, the best colleges and had graduated with highest honors. His siblings had followed suit, they were the pride of their parents and the envy of others around them. He stood and watched as his father gave orders and knew that there was no way the members of the new gang would live to see the next 24 hours, his father was kind and loved his family but he was also cold blooded and rarely forgiving to outsiders who offended him. “How are things with you?, you have been away for a while.” Ryan smiled at his son, he had loved him and was proud of him right from the very moment he had carried him in that hospital room, the only weak link he had was his children and apart from the day he got married to his wife Melissa he had cried only on the occasions of their births. “Well my trip was not as effective as I would have hoped, I didn’t get to see much of what I wanted to.” William walked to the mini bar in his father’s office and poured whiskey in two glasses. “I know, I apologize for that but we needed someone to handle the business in the Bahamas and you were already there.” Ryan explained as he collected the glass from his son and gestured for him to sit. “Well Andrea could have handled it.” William raised the glass and took a sip. “Yeah she could have, but your presence there made things go smoother and faster than they would have ever gone. I’m proud of you son.” For as long as he had been alive he had always loved hearing that from his father and mother, he had known that it was within his rights to demand for Andrea, the family’s second in command to handle the business in the Bahamas while he rested but he had wanted everything to go according to plan for his father. “I’m glad to hear that dad.” Ryan studied his son face and knew what was bothering him, “You disapprove of the way im handling this matter?” “Well I don’t think killing them would be doing us any good.” William responded. “Let me explain to you okay? Two weeks ago we lost five shipments to different parts of the state, I thought it was a booking issue till it happened again this week. I sent Cain to investigate and he told me there was a new gang trying to make a name for themselves, they called themselves ‘El Matrides’” “El Matrides? What does that even mean?” “I have absolutely no idea, anyway, I sent a small warning informing them whose products they were tampering with, just a small warning. Thus morning I was told they stole the shipments again except this time they set it on fire. They dared to defy me, defy my family, you know what happens to those who defy our family.” “Yes I do.” taking another sip William nodded his head then narrowed his eyes and smiled at his father, “What do you mean by warning?” “Well, I might have sent them the severed hands of their comrades, just the ones who stle the shipments though.” Ryan shrugged. “Really dad?, really? That was a but extreme don’t you think?” “They were lucky I didn’t put an end to their sad little band of runts and fools.” Ryan frowned at his almost empty glass. William chuckled and got up, “Well when they deliver them to our doorstep, don’t leave me out of it.” “Oh don’t worry, you’ll be front row.” Ryan smiled and raised his glass. He chuckled as he watched his son walk out of the room, he loved his two sons and was proud of Alexander his youngest child but it was William that made him believe that all he had built would not go to waste wen he was dead. William walked out of his fathers home office and headed straight for the kitchen, he was starving and could already smell something cooking in the kitchen downstairs. He wasn’t comfortable with killing people, he had never been comfortable with it but there were some things people just didn’t dare do to his family if they intended to keep on living and stealing their shipments was one of those things. In the time past he had persuaded his father to reduce the judgment of some defaulters from death to other considerable punishments but this one was going to serve as an example to others. He entered the very spacious kitchen area that his mother had designed herself and saw her standing and giving orders to the cooks hard at work, she looked up as he entered and smiled. “Hey ma.” He walked to her and embraced he tightly. “You came home late, I missed you.” She kissed his head. “Yeah, I had to take a detour for a couple of days to actually rest a little.” He smiled and hugged her again. “Well you must be starving, look at you, its like you lost weight again.” She gave him a look over. “Ma I’m fine, I just came to get something light…… and to see you.” He quickly added. “Well you can have something little but you will be joining us for dinner, now that everyone is at home.” She beamed. “What! Alex and Beks are back? When did they get here?” He turned around and looked at the door as if they were standing there. “Well they got home last night and Rebekah was thinking of heading out to San Francisco by weekend.” “Hell no! They are staying a while, its been a couple of weeks since I saw them last.” William shook his head. “First of all watch your language, secondly, you can convince her to stay, she seemed determined to go back there.” She turned back to instruct one of the cooks. “Well don’t worry, I’ll make sure she stays.” William hugged her again and headed out of the kitchen holding a box of pop tarts that had been handed to him by one of the cooks. He turned right and headed back upstairs to the second floor, the Hall family mansion was designed to make the ground floor for the ground floor to be occupied by the patio, living room, kitchen, dining room, guest rooms, den and pantry; the first floor contained offices and conference rooms, it was the business wing of the house and the whole family used it whenever they didn’t feel the need to leave the estate; the second floor contained the bedrooms, with five bedrooms with bathrooms en suite, a private family living room and dining room; the fourth and last floor was the entertainment wing of the house, it was filled with game rooms, a mini theater, an indoor pool, spa and indoor training room, their father had specially designed the house to contain everything the family could possibly need. The house had enough provisions to last all occupant of the estate for at least a year, the Estate was impenetrable and was one of the biggest in the world. William knocked on the door of his younger sister’s room, Rebekah was the most determined in the family, she had graduated at the top of her class at Harvard in Computer engineering, finished her masters in Software development and done her PhD in the same all before the age of 23, for the past two years she had worked with the family organization building the defenses to an impenetrable level and securing all business from scrutiny or discovery from law enforcement all around the world. “Who is it?” She yelled from inside the room. “It’s William!” Alexander called from the doorway of his room opposite hers, William turned startled and smiled at his brother. “Well well well, look what the cat dragged in.” William chuckled and grabbed his little brother in a bear hug. Alexander was the youngest in the family born 3 minutes after Rebekah and he was considered the baby of the family. He had also followed in the footsteps of his older siblings and had graduated at the top of his class in Cambridge, finished his masters and PhD in Finance and worked for the family organization in the business area. “I should have known you were here, the air was darker and the birds no longer sang.” Alex replied to his brother. “William!!” Rebekah squealed and jumped on her brother from behind in a hug and nearly fell him on the floor. “Hey you. How was your trip?” William laughed and hugged her back. “It was dry and uneventful, thanks to her.” Alex chimed in. “What? You just like unnecessary danger, its what gets you up in the morning.” Rebekah replied to her brother. “What’s the fun of life without danger, its what makes you feel alive.” Alex leaned on the door frame of his room. “Breathing is what is meant to make you feel alive.” Rebekah retorted. “Ever get tired of these two bickering Will?, I know I do.” Candice voice cut in. She was the first daughter and was always looking after them including William, graduating summa c*m laude from Oxford in Criminal Law and obtaining her masters in the same she opted not to get a doctorate and decided to take over the legal team of the family organization and with over 15 cases fought both minor ad major she had not lost one. “Hey long head.” William nodded to her. “Hey long ears.” Candice called back and smiled, they both grabbed each other in an embrace. “Have you seen Mum and Dad.” Alex asked William when they were done exchanging pleasantries. “Yeah, met dad in the office and mum in the kitchen. By the way, Beks can I talk to you?” William nodded towards her room and she followed, “We’ll see you guys at dinner, okay?” “Yeah yeah.” Alex and Candice waved and headed for their rooms. William looked around his sister’s room and began to remember the times he had come to read her stories when she was younger and afraid of the storm or the night, he walked to her study and sat down on the chair, the room was no longer designed in pink and white colors but held a beige color now which she had developed a liking to while she was in college. “So mum said you were thinking about leaving for San Francisco in the next two days, why?” William crossed his legs and looked her in the eyes. “You cannot understand, it’s important I go there.” “Why? I can try to understand.” William got up. “I can’t tell you, it’s a matter of life and death.” Rebekah sat on the bed. “What!, does Dad know?” William folded his arms. “Yeah, he asked me to handle something off the books for him. Don’t worry, I’ll be back two days after I leave.” She smiled at him but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Tell me, you can trust me with anything, I want you to be safe.” William bent down so as to be at eye level with her. “Yeah you want me to be safe, so does dad. I’m not in any danger, I promise.” She looked at him reassuringly. “Just tell me what it is about. Please.” “Okay fine.” She got up and walked to the window, “Dad and I suspect there is an attack coming, I ordered some people to investigate it for us, I’m going to check their progress.”