FALSE COLLATERAL

Chapter1: people change for the worst

“Wow, dad where did you get those?” I asked while looking at the medal my father’s wearing.

“Ah this?” he said while holding the medal, he smiled at me “I saved someone’s life son.” He answered.

My eyes grew wider because of excitement “Really? Are you a super hero like what I saw in comics?” I asked.

He laughed “Yes, something like that” dad answered.

“So cool! I want to be like you too dad, someday I’m also going to be a hero!” I said with enthusiasm.

He pats my head with a smile on his face “I know you will, Dristan.”

~

“Good afternoon Mrs. Evangelista, what can we help you with?” I asked with a smile on my face.

“I’m here to talk to Mr. Manson, I have an appointment” she said while showing me her business card. I see, she’s the CEO of that famous clothing company. “Okay madam, wait for a second I will contact Mr. Manson” I said while holding the telephone. I wonder what kind of business she’s going to talk about. Coming here personally, I wonder if it’s that kind of business.

~

I slowly open my eyes when I heard the phone ringing, I immediately answered it “Hello, Mr. Manson. I’m sorry for disturbing you but Mrs. Evangelista is here already, the CEO of that clothing company” Jabez said, my secretary. “Alright, I’ll be there in a minute” I said before putting down the telephone.

“I can’t believe I dreamt about that again” I said while rubbing my head. I headed downstairs to meet my client. “Good Afternoon Mrs. Evangelista, how can I help you?” I asked before sitting down to the chair in front of her. She slipped a photo at the table. It was a man’s photo, not in politics or anything high profiled. “Ah, do you want us to send him some body guards?” I asked while looking at the photo.

“That man killed my daughter” she said while looking down. My eyes widen.

“I know about the other business you are running, all of this security service is just a fraud to hide the real one” she sighed.

I nodded before standing up “I see you knew a lot, let’s go to my office” I said. She looked at me in confusion “Why not talk here?” she asked, I took a deep breath.

“We need some privacy if we are going to talk about this kind of business” I smiled. There’s only a few people who knows about the real business, some of them are regular clients and some of them are just desperate.

“The police can’t do anything, they said there are no enough evidence to arrest that man. I paid the media to shut up because I want this to be kept in private. The death of my daughter isn’t something that they need to show in the T.V.” Mrs. Evangelista said while holding the photo of the murderer.

“Okay, so you want us to do the job,” I said

“Obviously, that’s why I’m here. That man is planning to leave the country, if he does then the police won’t be able to touch him. My daughter will never rest in peace.” She said with a teary eye.

“I understand Mrs. Evangelista, we accept. You may now rest assured for we will not fail to finish the job. Justice will be serve for your daughter; I offer my condolences.”

“Thank you, Mr. Manson. I await good news”

I smiled at her “Don’t worry Madam, we will take care of it” I said “We just need you to sign over here as a proof of our deal”

“Thank you Mr. Manson, I will pay you handsomely.” she said while signing the contract.

~

“Check his background, look for his current location and send Lucas. Make sure to make it look like an accident,” I ordered Jabez. That man won’t escape without him paying for what he has done.

For someone who once dreamt to be a hero, these kind of jobs really suits me.

“Mr. Manson, we already found the man’s location and profile. His name is Johnny Lank, someone from an underground organization is backing him up. He does his job properly without leaving a single evidence that’s why the police have a trouble dealing with him.” Jabez said while looking at the computer.

“Contact Luke and tell him to clean up some trash” I said before leaving.

~

Aegis Oasis, the company that I have built for 5 years. We give security service for officials, politicians and other high profile personality. The company is flying high with its profit. Of course we didn’t achieve all of this just because of the security service, we have a backdoor deal with our clients regarding to that ‘special jobs’ they wanted us to do. This company wouldn’t be a huge success if it wasn’t for that, I know it’s low but we have no choice I decided to call it False Collateral.

“Hey, Dristan” I looked behind me and saw Jabez

I smiled at him “I’m surprise! So you can still call me by my first name huh” I jokingly said.

“It’s just the two of us, so I’m allowed to talk to you without formalities” he said while avoiding eye contact.

I laughed “Why are you being bashful? So, what do you need?” I asked.

“That man is part of an underground organization, if we mess with him we will have a huge problem.” He explained while showing me the photos of Johnny.

“So? Then we will silent those trash too” I said with a straight face. He looks surprise with my answer. What does he expect from me?

“I can’t believe that innocent and coward little boy before is now the boss of this corporation. I guess people do change” he said before turning his back from me. I see what he’s trying to say, he’s still not used to the things we do.

“We won’t be here if I didn’t change myself. We won’t be able to achieve anything if I didn’t throw away those dreams of mine.” I exclaimed “I sacrifice a lot to be here and if this happens to fall down, I’ll go down with it” I said while looking at Jabez’s back. “Yes, Jabez. People do change and we change for the better or in my case, for the worse.”