‘Just make sure you don’t do anything stupid, mate’. Those were the parting words of Lucas Knight as he left the home of David Helms, high up in the Hollywood Hills in California, words that were echoed wholeheartedly by mutual friend Matty Stone as the pair said their goodbyes in light of the situation that had unfolded earlier that afternoon. And they were words that seemed to be on repeat in David’s head as he sat in his study, behind his desk where the wooden box, champagne bottle and letter sat before him. He didn’t touch them, but sat looking at the objects before him, worried that if made any movement towards them, they would soon be flying across the room towards the nearest wall, and as stress relieving as that may be, he didn’t want to deal with any damage that may cause. 

It was almost as if he was in shock in a way, the fact that he sat there quietly seething and yet there was something almost tranquil about how he was feeling in the moment; maybe it was the sheer nerve of what had happened, or his utter disbelief that such thinly veiled threats were being levelled at his family right off the bat, but David found it hard to even process the fact that Elias Crane had pulled such a move for his opening gambit while acting on Eacott’s behalf!

David was actually sure that was what had thrown him so badly, in the first place! 

Elias had come to him. He had found where David lived and had dropped in, unannounced, to forewarn him about what Eacott was playing at and what he intended. He’d warned what that corrupt bastard Eacott was planning, how he intended to ruin David’s life and end any hopes he had of opening his gym, that he’d even gone as far as to hire Crane to act as his personal agent provocateur… but Crane had given David real hope that day! David had ended that conversation with a feeling that things were actually going to be alright and that while Eacott may think he had the upper hand, the reality was that David was the one that actually held all the cards. And sure, maybe he didn’t think that Crane would start small and petty, like pouring sugar in his gas tank or scrawling graffiti on the side of his house or something equally as asinine, but he wasn’t expecting such personal threats as an opening fucking salvo either! 

Okay, so Crane had given him fair warning… and compared to what David knew he was capable of, maybe this was somewhat tame in comparison, but that didn’t make it any easier to swallow!

This was his family that Crane was threatening, or Eacott was threatening through Crane at any rate. And while David was prepared for the games to begin, safe in the knowledge that sooner or later, it would flip on it’s head and Eacott would be the one left with nothing but trouble while David got the moral and the actual victory… but he hadn’t expected it to hit home as hard as it had done, on such a personal level too. And that was probably on David, it was pretty much his issue to deal with and nobody else's, because he had been warned this kind of thing was coming in the near future… but that hadn’t stopped the anger from building inside of him the moment he saw the mention of Jay going to the pier with Regan, or Kath owning her boutique. He was surprised that it didn’t bring up Aaron or Jenni for good measure, maybe Jason or hell, a list of other people that Crane could have thrown in there to add insult to injury. But the names it had mentioned were enough and he could feel the red mist rising, he could feel himself losing control of his senses. He looked down at his hand and realised he’d been gripping the arm of his office chair so tightly that he’d actually put a small tear in the leather, and his knuckles were as white as a sheet under the pressure; he had to force himself to loosen up, physically at least. Mentally he felt like a wound spring, ready to pop at any moment. 

And pop he did. He was already downstairs and out of the door before he realised what he was doing; he held the bottle of champagne by the neck in one hand, the letter crumpled up around it under his grip, while his car keys dangled from the other the other and he was walking with a purpose!

He wasn’t even sure what the final straw had been, but he’d clearly made a snap decision and there was only one person he needed to talk to right there and then. The same person he’d told Matty and Lucas he needed to talk to earlier in the day: Elias. 

He wasn’t exactly proud of his driving, which was erratic to say the least as he navigated the journey down onto Hollywood Boulevard from up in the hills, but obeying the rules of the road was pretty much one of the last things on his mind as he only just squeaked through a red light to barrel across Franklin Avenue, heading south. Elias had always been something of an aloof character and tracking him down had never been easy when Dave first started to interact with him all those years earlier, but as time passed the British ‘facilitator’ had let his guard down somewhat and David had been able to piece together a lot of information. He never used the same cell phone two days running, at least not for his under-the-counter dealings anyway, so calling him was never an option, but David did know of several locations where the Brit could usually be found. The first two were a bust, but David hadn’t been searching in order of likelihood but proximity, he was simply going from one location to the next looking for the British bastard until he found him, and it was a dive bar in Clement Junction that David finally tracked him down. 

Smoke swirled in the air as David stepped inside, which would have told him plenty about the place if he wasn’t aware how shady it was already, and it took only a few seconds to spot Elias in a corner booth as far away from the entrance as possible while putting him in relative proximity to the emergency exit if he needed it. “YOU!” David shouted as he started to march across the room and Elias looked up from his newspaper, a fork loaded with scrambled eggs still raised half way towards his mouth as he looked at Dave with a mixture of confusion and annoyance playing across his weather-beaten face.

David saw movement to his right as he stomped across the room, but Elias turned in the same direction and shook his head. Out of the corner of his eye, David saw a big bald guy covered in tats stepping back behind the bar and he guessed that the guy was about to come break up whatever was about to go down but Elias had some sway apparently because the guy backed off immediately. “David, how d’ya do,” Elias said, putting his fork down and barely flinching as David slammed the champagne bottle down to his left and the letter to his right. “Always a pleasure mate, what’s the occasion we’re celebratin’?” he asked, looking at the bottle briefly before turning his attention back to David. 

“Cut the B.S, Elias, what the fuck is this, huh?!” David demanded, jabbing a finger at the letter that was already severely tattered and even torn in a couple places from how many times it had been crumpled up and unfolded again. “I knew you were a rat bastard, but this is--”

“Oi, now then,” Elias interjected, clearly offended. “I can see you’ve got your knickers in a twist over somethin’ sunshine, but is there any need for the name calling?”

“Any need for the name calling?!” David asked in disbelief, as he forced himself not to pick up the plate of food in front of Elias and throw it across the room. He may be angry, but he’d read the room when he walked in and he was convinced that there’d be multiple weapons in the place that would suddenly appear if he kicked off too badly. “You do this and then you ask if there’s any need for the name calling?!” he asked, jabbing at the crumpled letter on the table again for extra emphasis. “You’ve got some fucking nerve, bro! You pull this shit and then complain when I call you a rat bastard?!” 

Elias sighed heavily, shaking his head as he slid his plate further away from himself and sat back in his booth seat. “Alright mate, I’m stumped… the fuck is it I’m supposed to have done?” the Brit asked, picking up his napkin to wipe at his mouth. “Because while am used to bein’ shouted at like this for whatever reason, I usually know what I’m bein’ shouted at for, but this time I’m lost.” 

“Don’t treat me like a fucking idiot bro, because I’m not one!” David spat back, glaring at Elias, disgusted at the blatant disrespect he was being shown in that moment; they both knew that Elias had forewarned Dave what was going to come his way throughout this, and the timing wasn’t a coincidence, and David didn’t understand why he was playing oblivious. “Look,” he said, lowering his voice a little as he shuffled into the booth to take a seat, deciding to try and reel it in somewhat. “I know you said that things were going to get nasty before they get better… but isn’t this a bit fucking much, bro?! Threatening my kid like this?!” he asked, pointing at the letter for a third time in a row. 

Elias’ brow furrowed heavily, leaving deep lines above his nose. “Dave, mate,” he said, looking briefly at the paper on the table between them before back up at the New Jersey native. “I’m not playin’ around sunshine, I’ve got absolutely no fuckin’ clue what you’re goin’ on about…”

If David had put odds on what he’d expected to hear heading into that bar in terms of excuses or explanations, that wouldn’t have been high on the list and it was David’s turn for his brow to furrow as he tried to process this new information. “Wait… you--”

“I dunno what’s bitten your bollocks Davey boy, but whatever it is pal, it ain’t owt to do with me, alright?” the Brit said, and while it was evident from the look on his face that he was still a little annoyed at being interrupted mid-meal, he reached over and slapped David on the top of the arm anyway before turning to the bartender and whistling to get his attention. “Get me another coffee would ya love, this one’s gone cold,” he said to the big bald tattooed bartender before turning to Dave. “You want a drink, mate?” Elias asked, but Dave barely twitched a muscle, he was lost in his own thoughts in that moment and Elias just shrugged before turning back to the bartender. “Make that two coffee, pal, don’t fancy putting anythin’ stronger in this one at the minute. Cheers,” he added and the bartender set to work as Elias turned back to David again. “Alright, lemme have a butchers at whatever this is. Somethin’s got ya worked up, so let’s find out what.”

Elias reached for the heavily crumpled paper and slid it towards himself, smoothing it out on the table top before his eyes started to scan the contents of the letter. “So wait,” David said, as he pulled himself out of his disbelief. “You’re really telling me this shit is nothing to do with you?!” he asked, not sure he should actually believe Elias or not. This was Elias Crane, after all; this wasn’t a man known for his honesty and integrity, his moral compass was most definitely not pointing due north, even if he did want to get out of the life if David’s previous conversation with him was anything to go by… but at the same time, his reaction did seem pretty damn believable. And yes, David was keeping mindful of the fact that Elias may just be conning him by pretending to know nothing about any of this, but… he wasn’t sure he believe that was the case. “Dude, come on; you literally warned me last time we spoke that things would get ugly and now this turns up at my home, a place I know you have the address of thanks to your surprise visit recently!”

Elias held a finger up, not even bothering to look at David as he read the last few lines of the letter before finally placing the paper back down on the table. “Davey boy, if it was me, don’t you think I’d admit it straight away?” Elias asked. “I’ve already told ya what Eacott’s got me doin’... ah lovely, cheers pal,” he said, breaking off what he was saying as the bartender arrived at the table with two coffees. “Stick ‘em on me tab, me ol’ china, I’ll sort it out later,” he added and the bartender simply nodded before heading back to the bar and Elias turned back to David again. “Where was I? Oh yeah. I already told ya what Eacott has planned, squire… I warned you about it, I told you what I was gonna be doin’, an’ I also told ya that I were on your side, ultimately. Now given all that information, don’t ya think I’d be a bit daft to then sit ‘ere an’ deny havin’ owt to do wi’ this?” 

“Plausible deniability,” David shot back, clutching a little as he looked for an explanation. “For all you know, I could be wearing a wire, looking for evidence against you or Eacott!”

Elias’ face split into a grin and he leant closer to David, leaning in towards his chest and speaking overly loud for the sake of theatrics. “MY NAME’S ELIAS CRANE, HOW D’YA DO. I’VE BEEN HIRED BY NATHAN EACOTT TO RUIN THE LIFE OF THE BLOKE WEARIN’ THIS, IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM POSSIBLE” he said before sitting back again. “So now that’s outa the way pal, pull yourself together, yeah? Fuckin’ hell, I went outa my bloody way to give you a heads up then you come in ‘ere effin’ an’ jeffin’, callin’ me all sorts of names that cut me deeply mate… use ya noggin’, yeah?!” 

“Alright, fine, fine… sorry…” David said, grunting in anger as he motioned to slam his fist on the table top before thinking twice. Instead, he grabbed his coffee and added cream and sugar, stirring it with the little spoon provided before picking up the cup. “But can you blame me for jumping to the conclusion I did, given everything you’ve fucking told me?!”

“Can’t say I do, as it happens,” Elias said with a shrug before quickly scanning the content of the letter again. “Question now, I guess, is that if I didn’t send it, who did… an’ I don’t think it takes too much effort to make an educated guess at that one, does it?” 

“You mean it was Eacott himself?!” David asked, shocked that a guy like Eacott was actually go to the trouble of getting his own hands dirty like this. “No way… that asshole isn’t going to dirty his own hands when he has people like you at his disposal!” Davie reasoned, though his anger was already flaring inside his head again, at the mere notion of Eacott doing this himself. 

“Oh, I’m not saying he nipped on down to the post office and sent it lovin’ly himself, sunshine. Far from it!” Elias replied calmly with a smirk. “He’ll have had his P.A or some lowly staffer sort it… but without a shadow of a doubt mate, he’s done this himself, officially. Probably still has the postal receipt an’ a copy of the letter he sent on file too, for safe keepin’...”

“What the fuck?!” Dave reacted in disbelief. “Why the fuck would he--”

“Because if all this shite goes south an’ he has to defend his actions, he’s got proof he were bein’ perfectly civil. Bloody hell Davey boy, pull your head out of your arse, will ya?!” Elias said, rolling his eyes. He drew the letter closer to himself and quickly scanned it. “Look here… this bit; ‘as a gesture to show my sincere apologies’ blah-di-blah… he’s makin’ sure anyone who looks into stuff, see’s him being perfectly civil an’ more importantly, regretful of whatever misunderstandin’’ took place… it’s all an act. Theatrics.” 

“A misunderstanding?!” David scoffed. “His gorilla tried to fucking kill me!” he argued, looking outraged, but Elias simply shook. 

“That’s what you reckon, sure…” Elias replied, nonchalantly. “But think about it sunshine; you ain’t got any cameras up yet, so there’s no video evidence, an’ from what I hear, it were you that got physical first. All Eacott’s gotta do is claim Thaddeus were actin’ in self defence an’ ya stories buggered, ain’t it?” 

“Oh come the fuck on, dude!” David spat back, laughing an entirely humourless laugh. “That big fucking ape had a choke hold on me so tight I thought my head was going to pop like a pimple, and you think he’ll claim self defence?!”

“I know he will, because a) Nathan Eacott isn’t an idiot and b) he’s already told me that’s exactly what he would do if you’d gone to the coppers to report the incident,” Elias told him plainly, and without any real emotion. “Dave, am sorry pal, but you need to wise up an’ realise what a bastard ya dealin’ with here… the guys as crooked as a nine bob note, an’ as slippery as an eel, an’ you’re tryin’ to approach the situation like he’s a good bloke who only does stuff that’s above board. He ain’t an’ he don’t. But he appears to do so, an’ that’s what matters pal… court of public opinion an’ how it appears to those in charge. The plod, a mean...”

“Plod?” David asked, confused. 

“Ah, ya know, the pigs, the fuzz… the cops, jesus…” Elias said, laughing before shaking his head. “It’s like pullin’ teeth talkin’ to you at times sunshine, ya know that?!”

“Fuck you bro,” was all the New Jerseyite managed in return before Elias laughed at him again. “So you’re telling me you don’t think this is a threat?” he asked, shifting the subject back around to the letter, his cheeks flushing a little. 

“Oh it undoubtedly is, me ol’ china,” Elias said, nodding his head as he tapped the paper with the tip of his finger. “This is some of the finest bullshittery I’ve seen in ages, let me tell ya, pal. Whole thing is chock full of thinly veiled threats an’ implied consequences for what happened wi’ the two of ya… it’s a fuckin’ masterpiece, it really is.”

“How can you be that blase, dude?!” Helms asked, sickened slightly by Elias’ attitude but the Brit simply shrugged his shoulders. 

“Wasn’t aimed at me, was it?” he said and David’s whole posture stiffened as if he’d taken serious offence to the remark before Elias started laughing. “Oh calm ya tits bruv, am only messin’... am blase about it, ‘cause it’s kind of my job, ain’t it? Look, you want an honest opinion? This is tame. Think about it for a moment, Davey… he’s hired me to mess with you. Me. You know how serious that makes stuff, given the kind of bloke I am. Are you tellin’ me you didn’t expect this?” the Brit asked, a hint of mocking tone in his voice, which David didn’t appreciate one bit. 

“Not quite this personal,” David said, though he was beginning to feel more and more foolish as the conversation went on. Should he be as angry as he was, when Elias was right, perhaps it could have been much worse… but as an opening gambit, this felt way too close to the bone for David, and it wasn’t even part of the plan by the sounds of it too! That should worry them both, surely? “I don’t get why you’re so relaxed, surely this means he’s going off script if he’s doing stuff like this?” he suggested, but Elias shrugged. 

“There is no script,” the Brit told him before taking a sip of his unsweetened coffee. “He offered me a job an’ I took it. My actions are independent of anythin’ he decides to do off his own back an’ won’t affect me in the slightest. I get paid no matter what happens, already had half the fee up front anyway. If you fuck it up, I get the rest. If he fucks it up, same result. My bigger concern is helpin’ you out, and ya need to chill the fuck out an’ trust me to do that or am not gonna be able to do a thing…”

“So what, I should just ignore this and pretend he isn’t throwing threats at me and my family?!” David asked, his anger flaring up again.

“You already knew he was doin’ that, sunshine!” Elias told him, losing patience with him now. “You knew that the minute I turned up at your gaff, so don’t go acting as if all of this is news to you mate, ‘cause you’re full of it. Man the fuck up an’ just let this ride out!”

“That’s easy for you to say!” David shot back, pointing at Elias with an outstretched index finger. “You’re not the one getting fucked around with Elias, you’re not the one who’s family are being threatened over a fucking business deal that some asshole is salty about! You’re the guy that works in the shadows and makes people’s lives a misery for profit, and yeah, I appreciate you saying you want to help me, but you’re still gonna come out of this winning no matter what! But me? Well, christ knows how things are gonna look by the time this is over with and you want me to chill out?!”

“Yeah, I bloody well do, or there’s fuck all I can do to help you!” Elias shot back, just as worked up as David was now, his patience with the New Jerseyite wearing thin. “It’s a fuckin’ letter, mate. Yeah, he makes some pretty obvious threats, but what you gonna do about it? As far as threats go, it’s fucking harmless, ‘cause while he’s gone an’ done this himself without me knowin’ about it, that’s about as dirty as he’s prepared for his hands to get an’ a can tell ya now, a’ve got no intention of doin’ owt to hurt your wife an’ bloody kid! The fuckin’ hell do you take me for, eh?!”

The two men sat there glaring at one another, neither willing to break eye contact for several seconds before Elias finally turned away and David found himself having to ignore the packet of cigarettes on the nearest table to them, because in that moment he would have broken several promises to Regan if it meant being able to smoke one. “And that means I should let this douchebag throw his weight around like this without saying anything to him about it?!” Dave snapped back. “It’s all well and good for you to say it’s harmless, but it’s not to me, dude!”

“An’ that’s a you issues mate, not a me issue!” Elias told him angrily. Some of the other patrons were started to look at them now, as few and far between as those patrons were, and Elias was mindful of the eyes on them, lowering his voice when he continued. “Look, Davey, I see where you’re coming from, alright? But I can’t afford to ‘ave to babysit ya the entire way through this, playin’ therapist every time somethin’ happens or explainin’ every single action a may take… if ya want my help, then ya gonna need to trust me to do my job an’ not keep flyin’ off the handle whenever somethin’ goes down…”

“So I’m supposed to just let him threaten my family, huh?” David asked, scoffing at the notion of that. “I’m supposed to like Nathan Eacott do whatever the fuck he wants without having to face any consequences whatsoever, all because you’ve got some sort of master plan that I have to blindly put my faith in, is that it?!” 

“Pretty much, yeah…” Elias said, smirking, which wasn’t the best idea because it only served to annoy Helms even further. “Look, you know what I’m capable of doin’ when I put me mind to it, so you know how things could go if I was actually actin’ against ya for real… do ya think this little love letter is really that bed compared to--”

David slammed both hands down, palm first, onto the table as he shifted his weight to them and pushed himself up so that he was leaning forward and looking Elias right in the eyes, cutting the Brit off mid-sentence, seemingly unable to speak due to the shock of Dave’s sudden movement. “Let me make this abundantly clear, dude,” David began, his voice level, considerably quieter than it had been moments earlier, but also the slow monotonous drawl of a man trying to make sure his words are thoroughly understood. “I have not, and I will not allow people to threaten my family, and no matter how unimportant you think this thing is,” he said, picking up the letter and waving it at him, “I won’t stand for it. I didn’t let Ravyn get away with it all those years ago, and I sure as fuck won’t let an asshole like Nathan Eacott get away with it either…” he added, scrunching up the letter once again to grip it tightly in his fist. 

“Woah, Dave, look,” Elias said, bringing a hand up placatingly, trying to calm David down. “I know your angry, and you’ve every right to be too… all I’m saying is that you need to have a little perspective, that’s all…” he added, sitting forward and hoping that David would at least retake his seat in order to give him a chance to diffuse the situation somewhat. But that didn’t happen and Elias had no choice but to continue in the hopes that he’d calm David down. “Think about it this way, sunshine; if I’d not turned up at your gaff and told you what was going on, you’d have read everythin’ in this letter and took it completely on face value, that Eacott was indeed apologising for what happened and you’d be crackin' that bottle open with your mrs tonight, over dinner. Unfortunately, you see through the facade ‘cause I went an’ did the bloody good thing an’ told ya what were happenin’, so now you’re overthinkin’ everythin’.”

“I’m overthinking?!” David spat, glaring at Elias. “He threatened my family, bro!”

“An’ I’m givin' you my word that nothin’s gonna happen to ‘em, ‘cause it’s me that he’d want to do it an’ I’m not gonna go there!” Elias said, almost pleading with David to see reason as the New Jerseyite continued to glare, nostrils flaring with each breath he took. 

“That isn’t good enough bro, and you should know that…” David said, his voice taking on that same calm and composed tone of someone who had clearly made peace with a decision, and as he straightened up, he slipped out of the booth and stuffed the letter into his pocket. “This relationship we have, dude… it’s entirely one way, so I don’t know what your situation is, whether you have a family or not… but I’m not going to let this shit slide, and you know that. You know enough about me to know that would never happen…”

“Dave… think long and hard about this before you do anything…” Elias warned, a final attempt to talk David off of a ledge that he was worried the American was going to jump from. “You’re worked up, but don’t go making this more complicated than it needs to be.”

“Nothing complicated about it, bro…” David said, shooting Elias a grin that made the Brit feel uneasy. “In fact, the more I think about the whole situation, the easier the solution seems to be… sorry for interrupting your dinner, bro. Have a good one and we’ll catch up soon,” he finished, and in one smooth motion he snatched up the bottle of champagne that Eacott had sent to him and turned to make his way to the door. 

He didn’t once look back after that, he’d said all he planned to say and he left Elias to watch him walking away, an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as he watched David reach for the door “Just don’t do anythin’ bloody stupid, mate!” Crane yelled as the door swung shut behind David with a clatter. Those words again, almost verbatim of what Lucas had said to him … words he should have listened to from the start, words he had heard, had gone over and over in his head… and not listened to. And now he was in the same position again, about to make what was possibly a horrible decision and yet it was the only decision he could make as far as he was concerned. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter inside, tucking the champagne bottle under his arm to open the letter up but it was only the letterhead he wanted. The address was right there at the top and he smiled to himself as he made for his car, parked only a few feet away. He had already made a terrible decision once that day… what was another one in the grand scheme of things? If you’re going to put your foot in it, you may as well use both feet, right? And while Lucas, Matty, Crane even, would probably consider what he was about to do as suitably fitting within the aforementioned ‘stupid’ category… David had made up his mind. It was time to deal with the organ grinder rather than the monkey, and Elias Crane be damned! 

Back in the bar, Crane watched Helms through the window of the door he had just passed through, watching as he took the letter out of his pocket and looked at it, continued to watch as he made for his car. Finally, with a deep sigh, he pulled the burner phone from his pocket and connected to his private server via a proxy browser. “Alright, it’s in here somewhere,” the Brit said to himself as he navigated through subfolders on the server once he was logged in, flicking back and forth until he found what he wanted; next to the name Matthew Stone, was a cellphone number, in a document marked as personal contacts, and seemed to be part of a list of names belonging to people closely linked to David. Matty was near the top of the list, and Crane copied the number from the document before flicking over to the number pad to paste it in. He hit send and held the phone up to his ear, tapping a finger on the table in front of him impatiently as he waited.

The phone rang for possibly a full five or six seconds before the call was actually answered. “Hello?” the voice of Matthew Stone said from the other end of the line, his thick Bostonian accent catching Elias off guard for a moment as the two had never actually spoken, but he quickly recovered. 

“Matthew Stone, how d’ya do, this is Elias Crane speakin’,” the Brit said, not bothering to question whether Matty had any idea who he was or not. He suspected that a guy like David would have told his friends all about what had happened, and given that he’d also worked with Lucas Knight too, once upon a time, suspected that his name was one that had come up around the water cooler before, so to speak. “Nice to finally put a voice to the face, but no time for chit-chat at the minute sunshine, we’ve got a bit of a problem.”

“Huh, what… a problem with what? How the hell did you get my number, brah?” Stone asked, sounded irritated, but despite the fact that he couldn’t see him at that moment, Elias waved the question away with a flick of his hand.

“Sorry flower, meant what I said about chit-chat, unfortunately...” he said, ignoring the question entirely. “Like I said, we’ve got a bit of a problem with a mutual friend that needs addressing, and I’m fairly sure you can guess who I’m talking about.”

“Dave…” Stone said. It wasn’t a question, but a statement. 

That only served to confirm to Elias that Matty did indeed know who he was, otherwise he wouldn’t have instantly known the answer to that question, and Elias nodded his head, unseen by Stone, before confirming properly. “Bingo, me ol’ china,” the problem solver said, even snapping his finger and pointing. “And he’s about to do something extremely silly, if my judgement is anythin’ to go by… but it’s not somethin’ I can really do anythin’ about if you’re followin’,” the Brit added, hoping that his Bostonian counterpart was following his vague explanations. “But I suspect, dependin’ where you are right now an’ if you’re quick enough, you may be able to… I’ll get the address and text it to you as soon as we end this conversation, but are you followin’ so far?” he asked, and after a slight delay, Matty responded. 

“Yeah, I’m following, brah. It’s about that package earlier, isn’t it?” he asked, and Elias gave him an uhhuh in response. 

“Got it in one sunshine, very astute,” the Brit said, smirking to himself. “He’s ascertained that his little gift was nothin’ to do wi’ me an’ now he’s gone to speak to the geezer it did come from… if you’re quick enough you’ll be able to head him off at the pass. He’s just left Clement Junction now, so make it snappy fella, or we may both be tryin’ to figure out how we save him from an even bigger problem soon enough. I’ll send you the address…” he added before ending the call without waiting for a reply. He’d already got the answer he needed when Stone told him he was following, he didn’t need anything else. And as far as he was concerned, there truly was only one location that Dave could be heading now and it was one he didn’t even need to look up, as he had been there several times himself over the last two years. He quickly sent the text to Stone’s number and then turned off the phone. This was going to get complicated, Elias could just sense it. And he didn’t like complications, they usually ended up being expensive… but the Brit took solace in the fact that that would be reflected in the price of his services once this was all over with. He just hoped it would be David paying him that extra fee, and not Eacott. He really did want out of the game now, and if he could help an old mucker in the process, then fantastic… but if he couldn’t? Well, that was just the way things worked, unfortunately. Hopefully it didn’t come to that, however. Not over some building anyway. Bloody ridiculous he thought to himself, sighing as he turned to look at his now-cold food before shaking his head. And with that, he signalled to the bartender to place a fresh order, and put the whole thing out of his mind. Either Stone would get there or he wouldn’t. He wasn’t going to waste any more energy on it. Whatever happened.. Happened…