8 The H-Brothers (1/2)

It was early June, three months after Carl moved in with Kim. He had stopped working at the carwash and got a job as a manager in a local firm. The pay was good enough that he would be able to rent out a house in the Upper province.

Part of his salary was given to Kim and invested the rest in the stock market as he earlier decided. He had enough money from buying and selling shares that he could buy his own car. Nonetheless, he was waiting, he hadn't noticed anyone following him for the past months, but he was playing it safe.

He just got off work and was about to take a taxi home when he saw two men talking less than 20 meters away from him. They could pass off as brothers, they might be brothers too.

”The police are coming down hard on us, if they find our connection to other businesses, the FCB will get involved, it'll get messy and we might be talking jail terms here. I think we should sell off the businesses and lay low for a while, maybe go to the next City.” The first man said.

When Carl heard ”sell off the businesses”, he became interested, he waited to hear what the other man would say.

”I know we need to sell them off tonight, if possible but we would loose a lot.” The second man said, with frustration written all over him.

”Is now the time to think about losses? We may have to go to jail! I like my freedom. Besides we can always rebuild.” The first man reasoned.

The two men speaking where Hugo and Hunter, known as the ”H brothers”. They're grew up by themselves in the red district, they were orphans, the only thing their parents left them were their names. They are the leaders of a local gang called Dragon Claw. They formed it themselves.

They were still talking about how to save themselves and their subordinate when Carl interrupted them.

”Excuse me, I overheard you talking about selling off your business. I'm interested.”

They were angered when Carl interrupted, but their expression quickly turned when they heard he was interested.

The first man looked at the second, they quickly came to an agreement. The second man wasn't really happy the move but their hands were tied.

”We should talk somewhere else.” The first man said. Carl followed them, they got into a car and drove to a quiet place.

Carl was perplexed at first. It wasn't safe to enter into a car with strangers. They could be human traffickers or organ harvesters. However, he had to take the risk to achieve his goal so he calmed down.

”We're here.” The second man said.

Carl began, ”What kind of business are you offering? Why do you want to sell it off? I heard you mention the FCB, is it evasion of tax?” Carl bombarded them with questions.

”Slow down, you ask a lot of questions, you know.” The first man said.

”I think I have the right to know what I'm getting myself into.” Carl said.