BRIAN

I dropped Justin off at his house to talk to Ben, and was told by Ben where to take Daphne. I was going to ask George, but Ben assured me no one would think to look at Carl Horvath. I took my time getting her to the house where she’d be staying, wanting to talk to her.

“Until you, Justin didn’t seem to have anyone.” I tell her.

“He didn’t, with the way I acted when we were in college.” She tells me.

“What happened?” I ask, curious.

“I didn’t know how to deal with my feelings for him, and treated him like shit for not feeling the same way. I didn’t want to believe he was really gay, since he didn’t show any interest in anyone but me. Although it was more me pestering him to death and not letting him ignore me the way he ignored everyone else. I think he gave in just to shut me up. How did you managed to get him to fall in love with you?” She asks.

“I don’t know if he is.” I tell her.

“He’s willing to lose everything for you. I think that says he’s more than mildly interested in you.” She tells me.

“I don’t want him giving up anything to be with me. I’d rather walk away than do that to him.” I tell her.

“Which would just reaffirm to him that he’s right, that no one thinks he’s worth keeping. Justin didn’t just become the way he was because people treated him like shit. It was always feeling unwanted that kept him from trying. It started with his parents dropping him off like garbage, to people only paying attention when he did tricks for them. In college, none of the teachers tried to talk to him, likely because they felt inferior to him. Nothing they taught was anything he didn’t know already. They didn’t get that he took their courses because he was impressed with them. Which is what he told me when I asked why he bothered when he could take the exams and bypass the courses. I really didn’t understand how people couldn’t see how special he really was. His mind isn’t the total sum of him. He needed someone to see the person no one bothered to see. He’s funny, sweet, and when he cares about you, there’s nothing he won’t do to help you. Which I threw away, over wanting him to want me in a way he couldn’t. I saw something I’ve never seen in him when he talked about you and his asshole boss. He’s determined to be with you.” She tells me.

“He’s thinks he needs to protect me. That’s not something I’m used to.” I tell her.

“Get used to it, he’s been doing it all his life... protecting people.” She tells me.

Justin’s conversation with Mel jumped into my head. “He’s been helping others by making sure they catch the people hurting their businesses?” I ask.

“Justin hated seeing people lose everything they worked their asses off for just because some asshole wanted easy money. I told him we should do something about it. Which is what we did most days we spent together. He sent the information to the right people; people I investigated, so we didn’t hand the information to someone who could use it the same way.” She tells me.

“You didn’t investigate Julian?” I ask.

“At that point, Justin and I weren’t talking to each other anymore. And we all would have been willing to sign without question if Julian Yates wanted us to work for him. The college treated him like royalty. So why wouldn’t the students trust their deans about jobs?” She says, shrugging.

“Nothing Justin was doing was illegal.” I tell her.

 “Julian would have been an idiot if he thought Justin would.” She tells me.

“Why?” I ask.

“Justin might not have taken credit for what he did, but there are very few hackers who could get in and out without a footprint of some kind. Justin never enters into a system the same way twice, and he wipes out anything that can point to him. He’s that good. But it’s also a signature of his hacking abilities. It’s how I always knew it was him when he sent the information.” She tells me.

“Which you know how, since the information was sent to the authorities, right?” I ask.

“Well yeah, where else would he send it?” She asks me.

“Then how do you know?” I ask.

“I need you not to tell Justin, he’ll try to stop me.” She tells me.

“Tell him what?” I ask, pretty much knowing.

“I’m the one they sent to get caught. I’m surprised Justin didn’t figure it out yet, since I could have used three other names and he would have known it was me.” She tells me.

“Ben doesn’t know who you are?” I ask.

“We don’t work in the same area, and our paths never crossed. They needed someone as good as Justin, and I’m pretty much it, since I learned it from Justin.” She tells me.

“I can’t lie to him.” I tell her.

“After I get caught, tell him. But don’t let him try to stop it.” She tells me, as we stop in front of Carl’s house. 

“You have some explaining to do little girl.” Carl tells her, enveloping her in a hug.

“Hey, can I do that?” A kid says, eyeing Daphne.

“Babysitting?” Daphne asks.

“Watching the kid eat like he’s never seen food. Daphne meet Hunter.” Carl tells her.

“I’m not a kid. I thought I was supposed to meet Justin.” Hunter tells Carl.

“He’s busy. But how about you show me what you can do?” Daphne tells him.

“I have mad skills.” Hunter says, smirking.

“I need to talk to Brian.” Carl tells them.

I wasn’t sure why, but I stayed while Hunter took Daphne in the house. Carl started walking to his garage, expecting me to follow him. When we got in he closed and locked the door, before turning to me.

“You need to make sure to protect the ones you love.” He tells me.

“There’s nothing in my life anyone could use to hurt them. I’ve lived my life in the open, there’s nothing people don’t know about me.” I tell him.

“I found that out when Stockwell wanted you investigated. But I wanted to warn you about being careful from here on out. There are a lot of cops who will do things if asked by the chief and harassing a gay man isn’t a big deal to them.” He tells me.

“What does Justin know?” I ask.

“Son, if I knew I’d have taken care of it. Up until now, there was nothing to pin on Julian. I talked to Hunter about his dealing with Julian. Nothing Hunter heard can be verified, since the only people who heard it were Hunter, Julian, and Gardner Vance. Unfortunately for Hunter, no one is going to believe the kid who hacked into Julian’s system. Julian will likely say he let the kid off with a warning, and Gardner would likely say whatever Julian wants him to say. The information Justin would have given Julian would say Hunter was only running his mouth. Which the kid does.” He tells me.

“Did Hunter tell you why he wanted to meet Justin?” I ask.

“He wanted to know how to deal with not having parents who gave a shit and still manage to succeed in life.” Carl tells me.

“Tell him it’s by not letting anyone tell him what he’s capable of, and by wanting it.” I tell him.

“He wants to help Justin.” He tells me.

“Then tell him to wait until Justin tells him what to do.” I tell him.

“I have a feeling Justin is going to do everything not to ask him.” Carl tells me.

“If he has to, I’ll do everything to keep the kid from getting hurt.” I tell him.

“Why?” He asks.

“Because Justin wants it.” I tell him simply.

JUSTIN

I sat in my office trying to figure out what Ben was talking about. Julian never gave me anything. And the things he confided in me weren’t state secrets. We didn’t have that kind of relationship. It was just business. What the hell would I know that could scare the crap out of Julian? The man was one of the rich and powerful, and I was in reality just an IT guy. 

“Julian owns companies all over the world, from fashion to pharmaceuticals, nothing but normal businesses. There were accounts that could be questioned, and had been, only to find nothing.” I tell Ben.

“There has to be something you’ve either seen or stumbled across at one time.” Ben tells me. 

“If there was, it wasn’t like I delved into it. I don’t really care about financials. I rarely deal with that system, since it’s a system that he keeps in house. Which a lot of companies do because it’s harder to get into a closed system.” I tell him.

“Hard, but not impossible. What if there was something in his financials, something you might have run across?” He tells me.

“I’ve only bothered with the system when the guys who run it can’t figure out what’s wrong. Even so I’d have to spend more time than I did to find out what to look at. I could look at the numbers and find things that don’t fit, but then I’d need someone who could tell me why.” I tell him.

“I think that’s the first time you’ve ever admitted you would need help.” Ben says, smiling.

“Look, I get numbers, and like anyone else, can add and subtract to know something isn’t right, but forensic accounting isn’t something you just know how to do. It also never really interested me.” I tell him.

“Yet you’ve managed to catch people stealing money?” He asks.

“Ben, it’s different. One day the money is there, the next it’s gone. If I’m right, we’d need to see money that shouldn’t be there. Julian runs a lot of companies, all of which he keeps clean. It can’t be those because he wouldn’t offer to open his books if they were anything but what they expected. And again, I don’t have anything to do with them.” I tell him.

“Why don’t you?” He asks.

“They’ve rarely asked for my help. The last time they did it was weeks before they admitted they needed it. I found out the guy who was running it had been playing games online while working. Which allowed people into the system that would have been closed otherwise.” I tell him.

“It’s just that Julian is about power and money. It’s the only thing that could scare him. That you know something that could tear his house down to the ground.” Ben tells me.

“Maybe it’s not something, but someone.” I tell him.

“Who?” I ask.

“If I knew do you think we’d be sitting here? You keep saying Julian’s been acting out of character with me. But he’s monitored my life since I came to work for him, never really getting involved with me.” I tell him.

“Until recently, yes.” Ben tells me.

“The last time I went to his company was a few weeks ago, normally I can do things here.” I tell him.

“Okay, but why would you think that would have anything to do with what’s happening now?” He asks.

“Because of the timing. I don’t think it has anything to do with Brian or jobs, but something he thinks I saw while I was there.” I tell him.

“Did you see anything?” He asks.

“Just people coming and going while I worked on the system. I really didn’t pay any attention to most of them.” I tell him.

“What did you pay attention to?” He asks while I was thinking about it.

“There was this one guy who sat around the reception area, but he didn’t ask to see Julian or anyone else. I honestly didn’t think much about him except that he didn’t look like he belonged. I mean, most of the people who come there are dressed for a meeting. This guy was rumpled and looked like he was hung over. The guy looked at me in a way that bothered me, but I just walked into the security room and started working. Like I said, I really didn’t think much about him, and would have forgotten him if Julian hadn’t looked angry to see him. But they got in an elevator together. I was curious, so I watched them in the elevator.” I tell him.

“Is that all?” Ben asked.

“Well, Julian came right back without really going anywhere, and the guy was gone. Then Julian’s mood took a downhill turn. He came in, saw me, and told the security guy he wanted to see him in his office. The guy came back as if nothing was wrong and I went back to work.” I tell him.

“Who was the guy?” Ben asked.

“I’ve never seen him before, but then I rarely go to the office.” I tell him.

“Can you describe the guy?” He asks.

“Sure, but why not just show him to you.” I tell him, looking up the footage. “It’s gone.” I tell 

Ben.

“Julian’s not the only one with footage.” Ben tells me, texting someone.

“All it would prove was the guy was in the building.” I tell him.

“At least we’d know if this was what Julian was worried about. Did Julian try to ask you about it?” He asks.

“Not that I know of. The security guy made a joke about people and the way the dressed, but I thought it he was talking about me and ignored him.” I tell him.

“At least if he comes back we’ll be able to show he and Julian interacted.” Ben tells me, happy about the spyware I installed in Julian’s system.

Ben and I waited around for someone to answer him and when they did Ben showed me the picture of the guy.

“That’s him, but who is he?” I asked.

“The owner of Babylon. But he’s into some seriously fucked up shit. Like Julian, he manages to skate around being arrested, or maybe Julian makes sure he doesn’t get arrested.” Ben tells me.

“Why would he?” I ask.

“That’s what we need to find out. Because if Julian’s involved with him, we’d have him on something much worse. Sapperstein has a rap sheet a mile long, but none of it sticks. The police have only been able to get him on letting minors into the club, but they suspect he’s involved in trafficking, not only drugs, but people.” He tells me.

“Why can’t they pin anything on him?” I ask.

“Everything they’ve looked into leads to a dead end. Most of the kids who are disappearing are street kids, which isn’t unusual because street kids move on.” Ben tells me.

“Even if they do, shouldn’t the cops at least try to find out where they went?” I ask him.

“In a perfect world, yes. It’s just not easy to get street kids to talk to a cop, because they haven’t seen anything good come of it. If one of them disappears, no one comes running to file a report. They just continue to do what they need to in order to survive another night.” Ben tells me.

“Which leaves them potential victims to someone like Sapperstein. Because no one cares if they disappear.” I tell him, angry.

“Only Sapperstein doesn’t have the kind of money that it would take to transport people and get them out of the country.” He tells me.

“Julian does, and he has the kind of contacts for it too.” I tell him.

“Other than that you saw them together, we still have to link them.” Ben tells me.

“Tell Daphne to keep them busy, since I need Julian worried about something other than me right now.” I tell him.

“What are you going to do?” Ben asks.

“Find a way to make something stick to Sapperstein.” I tell him.

“It might not help us with Julian. So far anyone caught refuses to give up Julian.” Ben tells me.

“I honestly could care less. For me it’s about the forgotten kids. They deserve to know that they aren’t invisible. If Julian’s involved, trust me I won’t let him get off. They need to know they aren’t alone in life. And that for once, someone sees them.” I tell him.