a fatal flaw. It required complete and utter trust of the men on the inside, the cogs in the great crime machine.
On Eric's sixteenth birthday, he hadn't gotten cake or a new car. He had gotten the head of his father, propped up on the kitchen table next to his decapitated body.
His father's death rocked the business. If it weren't for his uncle, they might have lost control. The criminally minded were silenced with either money or death, and everything continued as it always had.
And now, ten years later, his uncle was calling him cold. The image of his father's blank expression, blood slowly pooling and dripping to the floor, filled his memory. He needed no other reminder than that.
The cell phone in his pocket began ringing again. Irritably, he flipped it open, expecting his uncle with a repetition of their previous conversation.
"If you have nothing more to say I-"
"Eric, we have a situation"
He was wrong. It wasn't his uncle. Robert was one of the many men who were currently assigned surveillance duties. Eric really believed in surveillance. If you had enough people all watching each other and competing with each other, you had fewer people with time enough to conspire.
"What is it?"
"You told me that if there were any sign that your name had become connected with the fisheries I should contact you immediately?"
"Yes. Of course. Why?"
"It has to do with the Fairchild Memorial Aquarium."
Eric froze. There were very few things that his father had every publicly supported, let alone put his name on. The aquarium was the largest.
Despite being a professional criminal, Eric's father was a romantic. He loved Eric's mother, and when she died giving birth, he was devastated. She had told him she wanted to have her ashes scattered in the sea, and he honored this request.
Like many in the Mizuma Valley, she grew up spending most of her days at the ocean. Eric's father proposed to her on an cliff overlooking the sea. And so, when she died, he decided to build a tribute to her, on the exact spot where he had scattered her remains. That tribute was the Fairchild Memorial Aquarium.
"What kind of connection?" He asked, calming himself and trying to sound as indifferent as possible.
On Eric's sixteenth birthday, he hadn't gotten cake or a new car. He had gotten the head of his father, propped up on the kitchen table next to his decapitated body.
His father's death rocked the business. If it weren't for his uncle, they might have lost control. The criminally minded were silenced with either money or death, and everything continued as it always had.
And now, ten years later, his uncle was calling him cold. The image of his father's blank expression, blood slowly pooling and dripping to the floor, filled his memory. He needed no other reminder than that.
The cell phone in his pocket began ringing again. Irritably, he flipped it open, expecting his uncle with a repetition of their previous conversation.
"If you have nothing more to say I-"
"Eric, we have a situation"
He was wrong. It wasn't his uncle. Robert was one of the many men who were currently assigned surveillance duties. Eric really believed in surveillance. If you had enough people all watching each other and competing with each other, you had fewer people with time enough to conspire.
"What is it?"
"You told me that if there were any sign that your name had become connected with the fisheries I should contact you immediately?"
"Yes. Of course. Why?"
"It has to do with the Fairchild Memorial Aquarium."
Eric froze. There were very few things that his father had every publicly supported, let alone put his name on. The aquarium was the largest.
Despite being a professional criminal, Eric's father was a romantic. He loved Eric's mother, and when she died giving birth, he was devastated. She had told him she wanted to have her ashes scattered in the sea, and he honored this request.
Like many in the Mizuma Valley, she grew up spending most of her days at the ocean. Eric's father proposed to her on an cliff overlooking the sea. And so, when she died, he decided to build a tribute to her, on the exact spot where he had scattered her remains. That tribute was the Fairchild Memorial Aquarium.
"What kind of connection?" He asked, calming himself and trying to sound as indifferent as possible.
