Chapter: 02
Dressed in a white suit, Jake was standing in the Kosmea’s biggest cathedral. Living in a small town as Kosmea was uncomfortable for anyone who spend most of his life in London. He worked for a textile company as a sales manager, but it was always more than just calculating and boosting sales. He was ordered to maintain a perfect monopoly in certain markets of London, making sure no other company’s product ever reaches these markets. All big companies maintain this kind of monopoly to control the prices of their products and inflate gradually forcing people to buy expensive items as no other option is available. It was illegal and he knew it from the start but he believed “Evil can only be countered by evil. Those who are too positive to be always good are eaten by others”. And as every company and industry was doing it, everyone considered it fine. Two months ago, however, He was called at the company’s head office in Berlin and ordered to go into a small town of Austria to force people join a new company. Not only him but almost more than 20 men of his company were given a debt-tax scheme and 50 grand to hire local mobs for this job. After almost 5 months, he was informed that executives of a few companies were coming to inaugurate this new company. Everything from the past 5 months was so stupid to him that he never bother to think about what was in CEO’s mind. After receiving the news of their arrival, he arranged a cathedral telling the grand pastor of a huge wedding. Now, in a white shirt and pants with a red tie and a white vest, he was standing with the pastor. The pastor was glad to see the locals as guests but the absence of bride and groom perturbed him.
“So, Mister Jake Henderson, Where are bride and groom?” His voice was polite.
“Oh them! They changed their minds” Jake’s was calm.
“What do you mean? Is all of this for nothing?” Pastor with an unease.
“Nobody sets 500 seats for nothing. Not to mention the 5 grand we lost on food”
“What about your guests? You said they were coming from all over Europe.” Pastor was shocked but controlled his emotions.
Before Jake could reply there was something that added to pastor’s surprise. Jake’s men were adding a big Maple International banner in front of audience seats.
“What are you trying to do, Mister!?” Pastor’s tone turned aggressive.
Jake knew he did wrong but he didn’t want to use harsh words against the Holy servant. So, he went for the polite bribe.
“It’s tough working in a cathedral this big. Why don’t you go on a paid vacation?”
“I’m the keeper of this grand cathedral and that’s a treasure in itself” He sounded rude to Jake.
“It’s a recruitment event. All we want is to help jobless people” Jake’s explanatory tone was quite convincing and it worked as the main hall fell into silence. Pastor knew about the debt thing going on and he thought maybe they are helping poor people in hard times. Why he lied was still a mystery to Pastor. Avoiding further questions Jake grabbed his white coat from the bench on right and made his way outside in the ground of the cathedral. He smiled at people gathering in front of the stage. Terrified, surprised, and anxious about the future talking restlessly with each other. Of all the events in the world, this was different. Not only the audience but the host had no idea what was it about and what will happen? Jake had done some dirty work before and considered him just an order-abiding servant of his boss. He never cared what's right and what's not. He never thought about anything other than prize money he'll get after the job. He never thought much but today he was waiting like the audience in circus awaits performer. He awaited the performer. He was told that executives of various companies were coming. “Who will address the audience? If it's not my CEO, will I also abide him?” These questions were looping in his head since morning. He looked at the sun making dark orange stripes while setting in the west. In meantime, the entrance of a few cars in the venue created a buzz in the audience. All of them were BMWs sandwiching a limo between them. Cars stopped first and hundreds of men in black suits start to spread across the venue. Doors of the limo opened and black suit guards escorted five men to the stage. First of them was Henry Markilov, Jake's boss, a textile industry owner, and CEO of a clothing company. Second was Joe Mccormick, owner of a steel mill in England. Third was Brandon Fuller, executive of a construction firm. Fourth was Ladislao Mallo, Italian landlord from Sicily. Final one was Armando Logan, he owned a real state business. Jake knew all of them, thanks to one meeting where he hosted all of them on Henry’s order. Jake quickly gathered himself and greeted the executives. Except for Henry, all sat on their special seats. Henry stood next to Jake and whispered “You did well. Now, it’s time for the real gamble to start.”
Author: Hanzala