Blood In The Water

Chapter 3- Burn Out

The man in the room was leaning over the roulette table, rolling the dice and drumming his fingers on the ridge with a drink settled across from him. He wasn't as tall as Damien but much bigger than Scotty with his hair spiked and grey which made him seem much older than he probably was. His penetrating hazel eyes lifted calmly to Damien and Scotty who walked around the table to either side of him. He wore a dark blue suit and a pin over his heart with symbols etched into it that showed his old bosses. He didn't have any tattoos aside from the web that crossed his right eye, showing he'd been to jail at least once. Though he wore a suit it was unbuttoned and Scotty noticed he spent more time at the gym than even Joel did. The stranger glanced up as he rolled the dice at the wheel, Damien leaned in to watch. Scotty looked down at the man's hand, nodding to himself with his palm under his chin.

The die rolled snake eyes in an instant and the man made a hissing sound in triumph. "Not bad." Scotty muttered with a nod, shuffling his feet as the man turned his dark eyes to him and smirked. "I'm lucky aren't I?" The man asked, pulling the dice and setting them back in the case as he leaned against the table. "I meant making the clickers." Scotty grumbled, lifting the device he'd taken from the man's hand and handed them back. "I'm Vernon June, Joel called me to come and negotiate a heist. Here's the thing, I'm not all convinced about this." Vernon explained as he tossed the clickers up and down nonchalantly, glancing at Damien who grasped his knife.

It wasn't intimidating unless you knew Damien, and for someone who sounded as cocky as Vernon, Scotty doubted he understood the threat. "Well here's my thing, Vernon, there's a heist we planned and we want you on it." Scotty explained harshly, sliding the picture of the drive towards Vernon who picked it up and scanned it. "You can't afford me." He laughed and set the picture back, lowering his voice and turning serious as he rolled the dice again. Scotty scoffed, stopping the wheel from spinning to swiftly gain Vernon's attention with a sly smirk. "I have a good boss." Scotty assured, nodding to Damien who slipped behind Vernon and held the knife to his throat, making the elder freeze. "And real good tactics." Scotty added as he leaned his palms on the table and tossed the dice the way Vernon had. Damien held the blade evenly and dropped a sack of money onto the table, greed catching Vernon's eyes. "Now I could slit your throat and let you dye our table a nice new shade or you could tell me where this drive is." Scotty shrugged as he flipped through the money before setting it back and holding his hand up as Damien moved closer. Vernon choked on the pressure with wide eyes as Scotty didn't stop his assistant, mismatched eyes glued to the victim. "Ranahan, it's in Ranahan, near San Francisco." Vernon spilled, gasping as he rubbed his neck, Damien kicking him away and cleaned his blade bitterly. "Good, You're dismissed." Scotty snarled, pressing a plate on the bookshelf as the fake books fell forward to reveal seven gold plated cabinets.

Vernon paused as he watched Scotty open one drawer and step back as a computer lifted form inside, gleaming green. Three other screens lifted around it, each with different cameras, codes, and numbers written in Python around the edges and blinking. Damien tripped Vernon as he tried to run out and the older man fell onto his face, spinning instantly to defend himself. "Let him be, we'll see what Joel wants us to do with him before anything drastic happens." Scotty instructed, typing in coordinates and pulling open the second drawer as six heavy briefcases sat collecting dust inside.

Taking a swift glance at the screen, Scotty entered more of the code and pulled on the cases to test their weight. Tossing it lamely onto the table, Damien pulled Vernon roughly to his feet and stood at Scotty's side. "I'll tell you what. You tell me what you can bring to the team and I'll let you have the cash. If I don't like your answer, Damien here is going to be your new nightmare." The older boy nodded to Damien who flipped his knife between his hands and smiled innocently at Vernon.

Scotty undid the strap and tossed it over to reveal piles of money wrapped neatly in twine. Vernon's eyes widened as he ran his hand over the money, looking up at his captor who shrugged with a straight face. "How'd you get all this? No heist I ever went on brought millions of dollars." Now Damien couldn't help but laugh and Scotty suppressed a smile, he'd never been on a heist that hadn't. "Well trust me, there's a lot more where that came from." Scotty nodded, sliding one bookshelf aside to reveal a huge room decked with sparkling chandeliers and expensive furniture. If that wasn't good enough, the floor was littered with stacks upon stacks of jewelry and loose bills. Vernon's jaw dropped and Scotty patted the lapels of his multi thousand dollar suit smugly, watching the old man.