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The next morning, after I got off shift, I drove home and dropped Tesla off before I headed to the CSC offices to find Leo. The remainder of the night had been uneventful at the station, which had left my mind to wander. I wanted to know what information Victor could possibly have and then I wanted to find a way to shut it down.
"Morning, Becky," I said as I entered the office. "Leo in yet?"
"He is, indeed," she said. "Not a good morning, though."
"Why? What's up?" I asked, stopping at the desk.
"It seems Mr. Marini got some bad news this morning and he had a bit of a meltdown." She sighed. "I hate mornings like this."
"I'll see if I can't go turn it around," I said. "Keep your chin up, Becky. It's bound to get better."
"One can only hope, sir." She sighed again as she turned back to the ringing phone.
I walked down the hall to Leo's office and noticed that several of the pictures that had been hanging on the walls were now on the floor. One frame's glass was cracked, and I frowned when I saw it was the shot of the state capitol.
"Leo, what the hell is going on here?" I said as I walked into his office and found him leaning against the floor to ceiling window with both palms pressed to the glass as if he were single-handedly holding up the wall.
"Don't start with me, Cam," he said in a voice that sounded more weary than angry.
"I'm not going to, I just want to know what's going on," I said calmly. "C'mon, tell me what happened and why you're so damn angry."
"The son of a bitch..." he began as he dropped his hands and turned around to look at me. His mouth twisted into an ugly grin.
"Leo, just tell me what's going on and we'll work it out," I said.
"Richard Metzler wants to sign a contract with us for security coverage during the election campaign," Leo said.
"Okay, so what?" I replied as I watched him start to pace in front of the window.
"He's demanding that we limit our work to his campaign alone," Leo said, running his hand through his already messy hair.
"I still don't get what the problem is," I said. "So, we only work for one candidate. What's the big deal?"
"The big deal is that Metzler isn't really giving us an option, Cam," Leo said. "He's gotten a hold of our financials and he knows all about you."
"How the hell did he get that information, Leo?" I asked as I felt the anger rising. "This was the one reason why I didn’t want to move forward with this idea, and now you're telling me that it's turned out exactly the way I'd feared it would?"
"I don't know how he got it, Cam," Leo said as he moved away from the window and walked to his desk. "I had the lawyers bury it so deep that it would have taken dynamite to uncover it."
"Obviously, Metzler has the necessary explosives," I said bitterly. "Dammit, Leo. I never wanted to go down this road!"
"I know, I know," he said as he dug through a stack of papers and pulled out one sheet. He handed it to me saying, "Look, we can make this work. We can just choose to work with Metzler. The contract is unbelievably generous, and it'll get our name out there for future business."
"What if I don't want to do this, Leo?" I asked. "What happens if I say no?"
"Metzler releases the financials and exposes us in the media," Leo said quietly. "I'm sorry, Cam."
"This is fucked up, and you know it," I said, looking down at the sheet detailing the proposed contract with Metzler's campaign. The amount of money they were willing to pay us for security services bordered on obscene. I looked at Leo. "What in the hell? This figure is more than we would have made from all four campaigns."
"I know." He nodded. "Can't we just take it and run with it, Cam?"
"What? And then be another one of the companies that Richard Metzler bought off on his way up the political ladder?" I asked. "Hell no!"
"Cam, we don't have a choice," Leo pleaded. "We have to take the offer or we'll be exposed."
"No, you've got it all wrong, my friend," I said, shaking my head. "We won't be exposed, I will. And that makes all the difference in the world."