Ephemeral

Dreaming of Coffee Beans

Eight Years Ago –

Aidan glanced up from his laptop, having been just served coffee from one of his newer pawns that he had forgotten the name of – for most of his workers, they didn't last long before they managed to get themselves shot or killed. It was a waste of Aidan's time if he remembered each and every name and face of the people that he hired.

He noticed his right hand man, Rafael Santiago standing in the doorway with a wide grin spread across his face. Even with his eyes being directed towards him, Aidan still could see the screens flickering out of the corner of his eyes. It displayed the amount of money that was currently being transferred into his offshore accounts, and noticed a small discrepancy with the numbers –

He didn't know who...but there was a traitor in his midst that was siphoning money from him.

"Mi hermano!" Rafael called out loudly, extending his arms out to his sides to show he meant no ill intent. "Tell me," his Spanish accent was incredibly thick, although that didn't bother Aidan. He had worked with him long enough that he would be able to decipher it effortlessly. "What do you say we celebrate for closing this next deal, eh?"

Most of what people had to say wasn't worth hearing in Aidan's opinion.

Rafael walked over to Aidan's desk and placed his hands down on it loudly – "We only have so long in my home country, after all!"

Aidan stared without uttering a word at his associate.

"Come on – come party with the rest of us!" Rafael waved a hand over towards the door. "Let the men know that you are able to, how do you say..." Rafael grinned and searched his mind for the closest comparable English words. "Let loose!"

"Not interested," Aidan declined gruffly and looked back down at the monitors.

He began to click around on the screens using his mouse and then his eyes narrowed at one account number in particular – one that was located directly here, in Columbia. He blinked his eyes once, and then slowly lifted his head back up to lock eyes with the man in front of him.

Aidan knew who it was that was stealing from him.

"I've changed my mind," Aidan spoke, slowly standing up.

This surprised Rafael, and he couldn't help it as he grinned once more, this time wider than the first time. "See? Even big mafia hot shots need some R&R from time to time!" He boasted, taking it as an accomplishment that he had successfully managed to convince his boss to go.

Aidan hadn't been convinced –

Aidan was going to get even and make sure that Rafael paid dearly for his mistakes.

No one crossed him and lived to tell the tale.

...

...

Aidan looked at one of the newer men on his team.

He walked towards him and looked up – the man had a good two inches over him. Aidan could see that there was a scar on his ear and he remembered that he had picked this particular one up in Canada, during one of his deals two years ago. Aidan didn't remember the exact circumstances as he was merely in the area to conduct a business deal.

"You," Aidan called towards him.

The man perked his head up and being addressed, unsure if he was or not at that point.

"Name?" Aidan asked, getting directly to the point as he narrowed his eyes at the tall man.

"D-Dominic," the man replied nearly breathless.