Empty threats

Hey, it's Jay again, just in case you're wondering.

I sat and waited.
Sat and waited.


I was angry, I was frustrated, I was full of tomato sauce.
This wasn't my life. Mark was supposed to be a part of the family that one could safely shrug off while going on with your normal business. His affairs shouldn't affect my normal day-to-day. Why did it seem like everyone felt like it was their right to push me about?


OK, maybe the fact that I tended to react instead of act had given both Mark and Emma the wrong impression that I could be pushed around.


OK, right, so it wasn't the wrong impression. It was still enough to make me angry.

The Mark Side Of The Force.

I decided to leave and give myself some time to think. I tried paying for the pizzas and found out that Emma had already done so. I wondered what kind of hit-man would make your life a mess, but still pay for your lunch after she had ruined it.
I walked for a while, I had nothing to do until they contacted me, did I? I waited for a while and finally got a message from mecenas to my e-mail. I opened it.
There was a picture of Ro, tied to a chair and gagged, there was also an address.
I run, I didn't even think about calling Mark. I was so tired and pissed that I didn't even stop to think, so I got to the place, full of adrenaline but out of breath, and of course got a gun in my head as soon as I passed through the door.
"Call your brother, right now, or I kill the kid," said Emma.
"Where's mecenas?" I asked.
"Don't tell me you hadn't figured that out yourself?" said Emma, sounding disappointed.
I scanned the area, Ro was tied as in the picture I had seen on a cheap wooden chair. The whole room seemed filled with crappy furniture that no one would care about. The gun was pressing to my skull and the threat seemed real enough.
"OK, OK," I said while slowly taking my phone out. I dialled.
"Speakerphone," said Emma, I did so.
"What the fuck do you want?" screamed Mark as soon as it went through.
"I want Aliya's head and all specs and blueprints for our tech, or your brother and the idiot die," said Emma.
"Who's the idiot? Who are you?"
"The idiot seems to be called Roland," said Emma. Mark went silent for a few minutes.
"No deal," he finally said. "I don't believe you have them."
"Screw you, Mark," I said. He went silent again.
"So, you've got my brother, am I supposed to understand that you are that mecenas guy?"
"That's right," said Emma.
"You're not a guy," said Mark.
"That's right."
The line went silent again. I was pretty sure that my brother wouldn't let Emma kill me, but then again, I was pretty sure that Emma didn't want to kill me. I really, really wanted to be somewhere else, though.
"So," said Mark finally. "You've seduced my brother and you're trying to trick me, you haven't got the idiot."
Emma moved over and took off Ro's gag. I was glad not to have a gun pointing at me again.
"Sorry, Mark," said Ro.
"How did you get caught, you arsehole?"
"She seduced me," I could see a smile on Emma's face as Ro said this. Were we really such easy pray?
"Ro, you idiot!" I screamed.

I was incredibly pissed. The fact was that he had betrayed my trust. We were so close before and now I had no idea who he was. He had changed, he now seemed more and more like my brother and that was going to get him killed.

I was getting really tired of all this stuff, being pushed around, threatened, betrayed. Suddenly, a song by War sprung into my mind, the song was called Why Can't We Friends (you know the one, it was later covered by Smash Mouth).

And then it struck me.

"Mark, you wanker," I yelled to the phone. "Why don't you fucking offer her a deal to do this shit together?"