Lawrence
“That’sthe kind of man your father is!” Rios snapped on the recording, staticky on Lawrence’s phone. “He’ll start a war to get what he wants, but he’s nothing more than a fraud.”
Lawrence turned to Raiden and Cash. Back at Cash’s apartment, they were each leaning on the table and staring at the phone like it might get up and run away.
And Lawrence definitely understood why. As soon as he and the sour-faced executive had gotten back to the office, Rios started ranting about Lawrence’s father’s many failures. He poured himself several big shots of whiskey from a decanter on his desk and put on a big show of telling Lawrence how pathetic his father was and how he’d screwed the man over for the last time.
On the recording, Lawrence spoke with a hushed tone, like he was sincerely impressed by the show. “I always thought you were a better businessman than he was.”
“Damn straight I am,” he barked back. “My left ball is a better businessman than your father, kid. But he’s the one they’re going to give the promotion to. And he’s the one meeting with all the private military contractors, and he’s the one sitting at the table with foreign government officials and party insiders, selling them any damn secret he wants. He’s never even been to Colombia, asshole. He’s in bed with senators, and I’m just left here holding my dick, like I didn’t spend the past decade buying up the circuit court just so the board members can get themselves another summer mansion! But your father, kid, he still can’t make this deal happen without me, and he knows it.”
Lawrence hit pause on the phone. “He talks about his ex-wife for a minute, and then he spends the rest of the recording comparing the numbers in his division to the numbers in my father’s division. We can probably skip all that.”
He looked up to the guys again, a nervous smile on his face. Even though he hadn’t succeeded with their plan, he knew the recording was valuable intel, and he really, really wanted to impress the guys.
“Damn,” Cash said, tapping his finger on his chin. “It’s bombshell after bombshell with that guy, isn’t it? And you were able to make the recording without him noticing?”
Lawrence lifted his phone. He had it in a sparkly pink case, and he dangled it with a limp wrist as he scrolled and talked at the same time. “People my age are expected to be on our phones. I wasn’t about to livetweet the whole thing, but he didn’t blink when I gave it a glance.”
“And he didn’t hurt you?” Raiden asked for the second time.
“Absolutely not. The second he stuck his hands down his pants at the end, I was out the door. I figured this recording was enough, anyway.” He glanced between them one more time. “Isn’t it?”
“It’s solid,” Raiden said. “A lot of his bullshit lacks context, and it’s not exactly proof. But it would definitely do some damage.”
“That’s some of the best intel I’ve ever heard,” Cash said. “You did great, Lawrence.”
“Better than we did,” Raiden laughed.
Lawrence’s smile widened. “Thanks!”
“As far as damaging our insecure executive with it?” Cash asked. “I’m not so sure. These men purchase a media blackout that’s surprisingly powerful. And it would be easy to claim it was a deep fake or a soundalike.”
“Couldn’t we find a way to prove it was real?” Lawrence asked.
“They’d just tangle you up in the courts and probably toss you to a judge who was already in their pocket. Even if you got a good result, it would take years and half of your fortune, and it’s more likely you’d end up with a hush order than with vindication.”
Raiden rubbed his thumb across his stubble. “That doesn’t mean it’s useless, though. Reveal it to the right people, at the right time? It’s a weapon.”
Lawrence sighed. He’d hoped that the recording would be enough, like they could just email it to theNew York Timesand watch as Rios was led away in handcuffs the next day. He should have known better, though. He’d grown up in his father’s world, and none of what he heard in that office should have been a surprise.
“Where does that leave us?” Lawrence asked.
“It leaves me hungry,” Raiden answered. “What about you two? Ready for some dinner?”
“The fridge is stocked,” Cash said as he shuffled through a few papers on the desk. “You’re welcome to help yourself. I want to look through these emails again, now that I have more intel from the recording.”
Raiden rubbed the back of Cash’s head with a soft shove. “You’ll eat,” he said, then pointed at Lawrence, sending a shiver down his spine. “And you.”
Lawrence definitely didn’t mind. “Do you want any help?”
“Let me take a look around,” Raiden said. “I’ll let you know if I need some onions chopped.”
A noisy rip grabbed Lawrence’s attention, and when he turned, Cash was tearing a big piece of paper from a roll, which he spread out on the table. He fumbled around for a sharpie, then started scrawling notes across it like a puzzle.
“What’s this?” Lawrence asked.
“Just me, feeling so manic about this new information I no longer have the will to hide my obsessive brain from you.” He sketched out a rough map of the world, then put X’s in a few different places. “It helps me to think, you know?”
