A Man of Honor.

Chapter 11: Nefarious Plans

"Goodfellas don't sue Goodfellas....Goodfellas kill Goodfellas." ~ Salvatore Profaci

"Are you sure about this Mr. Arc?" Ozpin asked over the scroll. "You're risking a lot to trust Mr. Winchester and his friends."

"It's a gamble I know," I explained to Ozpin counting out the envelope of cash I had with the majority of my earnings. "Plus I'm putting a lot of money down just on the off chance it can secure his loyalty."

"Do you even have that kind of money?" Ozpin asked me.

"I got it," I said bitterly. "You know that fancy car I took from that chop shop? I managed to sell it to Tonen for three times the amount Cardin owes." That had been tough to do, I loved that car and trading it for a simple sedan was a huge letdown. But I needed the money and this was a lot more important than a fancy car. Thankfully Tonen told me that lining up a buyer for a ride like that would take awhile so I probably had a chance to buy it back. I was grateful to him for that, I really liked that car.

"Well I trust his cooperation will be far more valuable than some car," Ozpin said as if he could tell that I was having second thoughts about giving Cardin so much money. At least it gave me enough to also pay off the rest of CRDL for a while. I just needed enough cash to last until I could figure out Michail's problem. After that I had no idea what I would do with Cardin and his friends.

"How did Cardin even manage to get that kind of debt anyways?" I asked him voicing my concerns as I counted out the rest of my money so I could also pay the rest of CRDL when the time came. There was no way Cardin could just end up owing a loan shark that much money by accident. And considering he and his team actually managed to get into Beacon the right way I figured that it couldn't be any normal loan shark threatening him.

"I have no idea," Ozpin told me. "But whatever caused him to need that kind of money from a loan shark certainly has worked in your favor."

"Let's hope so," I said, finished with my counting. "He could have already told Michail everything already and I'm walking into a trap. Cardin could just rob my corpse afterwards."

"You said it yourself, it's a gamble," Ozpin coldly reminded me.

"Yeah yeah," I said, hating that my own words were being tossed back my way. "But I've already cast the dice so I don't really have much choice but to see what comes up. But if it goes wrong you know who to go looking for."
"Do you really think Michail would risk dragging the Prince into a war over this?" Ozpin asked me. "You might only be an associate with the Clan Mr. Arc but it's been very clear to this point that both sides have avoided murder in fear it could lead to somthing worse."

"I have no idea," I admitted to him. "War seems inevitable as far as the Clan is concerned, and most seem to think that the Atlesians want it to lead to it. They're probably just trying to test the waters and see what our first move is going to be."

"What would prevent it from escalating to such extremes?" Ozpin asked me.

"I honestly don't know," I admitted to him. "But the Atlesians seem to have the advantage at the moment, so unless somebody puts them on the back foot I don't see their disposition changing."

"I'll keep that in mind," Ozpin said. "For now just be weary with Mr. Winchester and keep your course."

Keep my course. He always told me that, like it was supposed to be some special motivator for this mission. I had no idea what my course was. I was going about this on the seat of my pants, I didn't have any course plotted. I just knew that I was supposed to get in on the dust racket and I had no idea how I was supposed to even get there. No one I knew in the Clan was even involved in that as far as I knew.