Pilot Mountain, 45 miles south east to Hillsville, was experiencing the heaviest snow in the last 10 years accompanied by a mild storm. The visibility was very minimal. However, he had to drive today amidst these odds as he needed money to pay his contractors. Thirty thousand dollars is a good deal to pay the contractors when you make hundred thousand dollars as ransom.
After the payments today, he could go back to Mexico, cover his debt and buy his house back. Mr. Clark parked his car in the Main Street just before the intersection with Old Westfield Road.
Mr. Clark appeared out of the car with a black leather jacket. He took off his head cover attached to his coat as he entered the withdrawal section of the AIB booth. The touch screen asked him to key in his original or 24 digit dynamic number. Mr. Clark tried a withdrawal of $35000.
No sufficient funds available
'What? you got to be kidding' Mr. Clark for a moment thought that the withdrawal section of the booth didn't have enough money.
Then he tried the balance enquiry.
Your account balance is $ 0 (Zero). Minimum balance required is $50 (Fifty). Please pay $50 within a week to retain this account.
Mr. Clark couldn't believe his eyes. Only last night, when he checked in his laptop, he had seen a total balance of $150,000, which included the hundred thousand dollars transferred from James Miller.
He logged out and logged in a few times, and it always showed zero balance. Mr. Clark began to sweat at the very thought of not being able to pay his contractors.
He knew that Bob’s group always took payments in advance. It was only for his prompt payment for the Pam Miller case, they agreed for deferred payment for Robert’s case.
He knew how bad the contractors could be if he was unable to pay them.
'Where the hell did my money go?. Bob would be at my house in a couple of hours and what shall I tell him?'
He came out of the booth, his head cover still off and hands slid in his coat pocket, walked back to his car.
"Bob, I don't know how it happened, but I don't see any balance in my account. I know it is weird" Mr. Clark explained Bob.
Wearing a band across his forehead, Bob was sitting on the couch in Mr. Clark's house.
"Mr. Clark as you may know, we usually take up payments in advance”
“I know..”
“It was only considering your promptness in paying the fee for the last business, we agreed for deferred payments for the current task"
"I completely understand, I just need some time to figure out how this happened. I assure you, I will pay the agreed upon amount"
"How much time do you need?"
"Just give me a week"
"I always told you, get the payments in advance. You proved your stupidity again" Nick yelled at Bob.
"Stop yelling.”Bob replied “He assured he will pay us, he just needs a week"
"And you agreed?" Nick looked at him with all hatredness.
"Why not?"
"You should have asked me. I have already promised my girlfriend a diamond ring tomorrow. Will you pay me for that?" Nick's voice reached its peak as he pushed Bob on the chair. The chair lost its balance and it fell down. Bob rolled on the floor. Bob’s forehead started to bleed through the band he was wearing.
Josh helped the old man and made him sit on the sofa.
"Hey, chill out, Nick" Josh said “Don’t be so rude”
Nick didn't even seem to listen. He walked over to the old man and held him by the collar of his shirt. "Aren't we a team? You always make your damn decisions without consulting us. What are we here for?” Nick lifted the old man’s chin so that he could directly stare at him “Speak up. What are we here for?” Nick tightened the old man’s collar.
Bob spat on Nick’s face. Nick loosened the collar and dropped the old man back on sofa.
Nick took a few steps back, removed his T-shirt and wiped his face with it.
“I am not standing this anymore" Nick threw the T-shirt on the old man’s face, went to the closet and put on a new T-shirt. "You know what I am going to do. I am going to Mr. Clark's house and I am going to give him just 2 hours to pay us back and not a generous week." Nick picked up his coat from the closet, wore it and started to walk towards the door.
"You can't do that. We have given a word to our customer. We need to keep that up"
"Oh, really? You gave a word?
I will give you a word now. **** ***" Nick continued to walk towards the door.
"I am still the boss. You got to listen to me" Bob threw an empty coke bottle lying on the sofa at Nick’s head.
Nick lost his patience. He turned back rubbing the back of his head with his left palm
"I am sorry, you are too old for this job, Bob" Nick reached his coat pocket with his right hand, grabbed a pistol, pulled it out and pressed it hard against Bob's forehead and pulled the trigger.
Before the thudding sound of the gun shot could fade, Bob fell dead on the floor.
Josh stood still shocked to see the sudden turn of events.
"Josh, Don't worry, he was no good in our team. Come let's go to Mr. Clark's house. Cheer up, we got Bob's share too"
"You got 2 hours and you pay us our fee in full" Nick commanded sitting on Mr. Clark's couch. Josh stood by his side.
Mr. Clark knew how bad the contractors can be if there are any issues with payments.
"All I am asking is, for you to understand my situation. I don't know how it happened. "
"Are you saying James Miller never transferred the money"
"No, he did, I confirmed that. But now I don't see any balance. My account not only had the money he transferred, but also my savings of $50,000. Now everything is gone. But if you could kidnap the kid again, we could just demand in $30,000 and pay you back..."
"Shut up...our deal is over and it is payment time. We are not taking any more task without payments"
"Alright, this time we will demand $60,000 and you can have the entire amount. You can consider that as payments for 2 tasks"
"Are you even listening? We aren’t doing a second task without payments for the first one. Also, James and the kid are under police protection now. The hospital is full of cops. It isn’t that easy. Even if we did, what if you again tell us the same story that your funds magically disappeared from your account. what if you are squandering all the money, without giving our share"
"I wouldn’t do such a thing. Ask Bob. He knows how honest I am”
"I don't know much about internet banking. Whatever it is, all I can give you is a day's time to figure out and get us the cash" Nick stood up and walked towards the door with Josh following him.
"Bob had agreed for a week's time" Mr. Clark mentioned a bit hesitantly.
Nick stopped walking, turned back and gave his usual stern look "Bob is not the boss anymore. I am.”
“Did he retire?” Mr. Clark sounded confused.
“No, I fired him”
Mr. Clark had no idea how he could ever figure out what has happened or how to get $30,000 in a day's time.
He called AIB customer service and explained his problem.
"That is impossible, sir." the customer support denied that funds can't go out from his account without his knowledge.
Mr. Clark finally dialed James’ residence phone from a public telephone. Mike picked up the phone “Hello, who is this?”
"I know you did transfer the money. But I want you to check your accounts to see if the transfer actually happened"
"The transfer should have happened. If you think the transfer didn't happen, you should be missing only $100,000. But it seems like you lost your savings of $50,000 too" Mike replied.
"I know this is not James' voice. Who is this? How do you know all this?"
"If you want to know further, come to Marcy's by 7 p.m tonight and come alone.You will regret if you mess with this" Mike hung up.
No comments:
Post a Comment