Levi
Sitting on the edge of the desk, I stared at the large fish tank, trying to find peace.
A rare resource in this life as it was, but even more so over the past few weeks.
No matter what I did or how well I did, there was always another problem around the corner.
Hell, sometimes it didn’t even lurk around the corners; problems loved to stack on top of one another.
“Tell me,” I said to a large fish I couldn’t identify, “is it wonderful being a fish, or is it just eat, hide, and die?”
The fish did little more than twist and head in the opposite direction.
Adding the tank to what had become my office in Cresson Point had been one of my better choices.
I had always been fond of watching fish behind glass.
The steady movements, the dancing lights that tanks gave to a room, the way the fish seemed completely unaware that they were locked in a little world of safety and food, so long as they were taken care of.
It was nice when I was left alone, though the one I’d spoken to was fond of hopping out of the tank whenever it saw the chance.
Clearly, he wasn’t as satisfied with his life, but he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
That was relatable.
Peering around the room, I wondered if I should have just had my office at the house.
This small room was in the middle of the building I’d rented under the name of a company that, while technically legitimate, didn’t actually do any legitimate business.
I had chosen the location because it was at the heart of the industrial area of Cresson Point, ironically not all that far from where I’d grown up.
The building had been chosen because it had a room at its center.
It meant no natural light or view, but there was nothing worth seeing in that grimy part of town anyway.
It also meant it was easier to insulate, along with other precautions to keep anyone from spying on what happened in there.
The huge fish tank behind my desk was a way for me to have something beautiful and relaxing, considering I had figured, and had been right, that I was going to spend more time in that office than the nice little house by the cliffs at the other end of town.
The office was the only part of the building that had been touched by anything other than generic decorations that gave the illusion of a proper business.
The receptionist was in my pocket, and I had to admit, he was good at playing a regular working member of society who greeted people.
So far, only a couple of people had walked in, and though I hadn’t asked what they’d wanted, they had left after speaking to Reed at the front desk.
So long as I kept people like him in my employ, I would have an easier time dealing with the troubles The Family was having.
And just how distracting do you think the work will be? My mother quipped, and I rolled my eyes. You know damn well what I mean. We both know what you’re thinking.
“You know what I’m thinking because you’re just a part of my brain that has gained a mind of its own,” I grumbled aloud since I was alone in the room.
So what does that make you...crazy or desperate?
“Probably a bit of both.”
Or maybe you’re just afraid.
“Of course I am. There’s a lot riding on me. There’s plenty to be worried about and afraid of.”
But that’s not what you’re really afraid of...are you?
“I know where you’re going with that, and I’m not taking the bait. We’re not going to talk about him.”
Oh, of course. God only knows you’ve spent years trying not to even think about him. Now that you’ve seen him, you definitely wouldn’t want to talk about him.
“He’s in the past, where he belongs.”
Maybe when you were in Seattle, that counted for something, but it doesn’t count for shit here, does it? You’re in Cresson Point, and it didn’t take you long to start poking around the past, even though you keep talking like you want to leave it in the past. And what did that get you?
“Enough,” I growled.
I grimaced when I heard a knock at the door, twisting around on the desk, hoping for the millionth time that no one had heard me talking to myself, but also glad to have the interruption. “Come in.”
William Junior entered, glancing around nervously. “Did I uh...interrupt?”
“No, Will, nothing important,” I said with a snort, gesturing for him to close the door behind him. “What can I do for you?”
“You wanted to know more about the shipping lanes through the area,” he said as he walked in and set a memory card on the desk.
Unlike my father, I wasn’t all that fond of physical media.
His precautions made it unlikely that a paper trail would be found, but I didn’t like the idea of leaving important paperwork lying around.
It was the twenty-first century, and there were plenty of options to be safe without taking thirty extra steps.
I slid it into my laptop. “Thank you. Have we heard from Connelly and his men yet?”
“No,” Will said nervously, but I ignored it.
I couldn’t figure out if he was terrified of me or my father, who had assigned him to trail after me for however long I was here, but the man was in a constant nervous state and always seemed on the verge of a breakdown.
I didn’t know how he felt about being forced to work with me, and I hadn’t been all that thrilled to have him at my side.
Sure, Augustine could claim it would be good to see someone from the original family working with me to make William Senior’s group see me in a better light.
I wasn’t convinced. William Senior had been well known for coddling his children, especially the child who had been given the same name.
Perhaps Senior’s group had been good at hiding their disdain for Junior, but they hadn’t bothered to hide their lack of respect.
Either my father was seeing something more than I was, or he stuck Junior with me for some other reason.
Paranoia and cynicism told me Augustine was trying to sabotage me, but that wouldn’t make sense considering he didn’t want to lose our hold on this part of the country.
At the very least, Junior was a fine personal assistant. So long as he wasn’t made to take on any responsibility, he was organized and had a superb memory. He also looked like he was going to keel over from heart failure at any moment, but there were upsides and downsides to everyone.
“Take a breath,” I told him, gesturing to one of the chairs across from my desk.
Sitting at my laptop, I reached into my pocket and grabbed a flash drive to plug into the side, letting it and the memory card meet, so to speak.
Encryption was the only guarantee of privacy, and I kept the decryption key close at hand.
There were two keys to the puzzle. I needed to see the information, and I let the program run as I leaned back and considered what else was on my list for the day.
I had hit the ground running from the moment I landed in Cresson Point just over three weeks ago, and I hadn’t stopped running since.
“Can...” Will began and then stopped, wincing and ducking his head.
I looked up. “What?”
“I just...wanted to ask a question.”
“Then ask.”
“Sorry, you looked like you were thinking.”
“I am thinking. But Augustine put you with me for a reason, and I suspect part of it was the hope that you would learn something.”
“He...kinda said something like that when he told me I was going to be helping you personally.”
“Then ask. You can’t learn if you don’t ask questions,” I told him, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice.
With anyone else I’d been in charge of over the years, I didn’t have to sit around and play nice.
Will Junior? God, the man was so sensitive, and I still didn’t know how to interact with him half the time.
“Why...do you have all of that encrypted?” he asked, glancing nervously at the computer. “It’s just...basic information. Anyone could get it if they dug deep enough. Nothing there is going to incriminate or look bad.”
“For the same reason I made sure you used at least three different sources to gather the information,” I explained as the files were done.
I opened the folder to begin leafing through everything, detaching the screen from the keyboard so I could hold it as a tablet.
“Sure, all that information isn’t suspicious on its own, but we’re operating in a theatre where the police and the feds are aware the Family operates and that so far, no one has stepped up to take over in Portland.
Which means they’ll pay attention to anything that stands out here.
At least three different sources of searching and collating are going to draw less attention from any algorithms and bots they have keeping an eye out for keywords or searches done together. ”
“And the encryption?”
“If every bit of information I require is given to me and stored in encrypted drives and files, then anyone who decides to go through my stuff is going to have a tough time getting their hands on anything significant.”
“Because it’s all being treated like it’s significant?”
“If it all looks significant, then what actually is significant?”
“Oh.”
I wasn’t worried about law enforcement for the moment.
They were too busy congratulating themselves and leveling their gaze northward toward Augustine.
He had been involved in The Family since he was out of diapers, so he knew his way out of trouble.
There was no real heat to speak of, but it was worth watching, especially because there wasn’t much attention on me at the moment.