Mad Men

It was Saturday night already, James’ favorite night of the week because it usually followed an equally relaxed day. It had certainly been a good day for him, despite his defeated mood after the rough week. James was able to find comfort in spending time doing nothing with Lisa. He watched from the stove as his wife grabbed two small bowls from the nearby cabinet and filled them with applesauce. The disbelief that such an amazing, beautiful woman would want to marry him had not worn off after nearly 3 years.

“Stop staring at me and stir the macaroni before it sticks.” Lisa glanced over at James, trying to hide her smile and blush by keeping her face down at the same time.

“Yes boss,” He smiled triumphantly in return.

They were making their favorite dinner, macaroni and cheese with applesauce for dipping. Lisa had taught James how to make the best mac n’ cheese he’d ever had early in their relationship, and they had had it far too many times to count since.

After a moment of quiet, Lisa cleared her throat.

“I got asked to work tomorrow.” She took the pot of macaroni from the stove and took it to the strainer.

“And?” James poured milk into the empty pot as she returned it to the stove.

Lisa dumped the strained noodles on top before stopping and turning towards him. “And I said I’d let them know.”

James stopped and faced her for a moment before adding the cheese and spices and stirring the noodles.

“Are you asking me for permission?”

“No, I’m asking you for advice.”

James took a deep breath, ignoring the unusual tension in the room. On one hand, a day of overtime was more money that they could put away to get out of their small apartment. On the other hand, a day of overtime was another day James would be spending alone in their small apartment without Lisa.

“No,” James knew either decision he made would be selfish. But what he wanted while around Lisa was to be around her even more. “Tell them you can’t. I want you all to myself.”

She squealed as he pinched her sides, moving her over to grab bowls to fill with their dinner.

“Besides, I know I need to look for a better job. I know we don’t have much now, but I’m trying.”

Lisa looked complexed again as they walked to the living room with their food.

“James, we have everything I could ever ask for. We have what we need, and all I want is to be happy, which I always am around you.”

“Yeah, but I bet a big house with a Jacuzzi and a deck would make you pretty happy too.” He pulled her close to his side, ignoring the truth and sincerity behind her statement. In the same way that he was shocked Lisa had wanted to marry him, he was unable to believe that someone could be happy without a luxurious lifestyle.

The couple ate their macaroni and cheese, enjoying an action movie and relaxing into each other as they finished. When it ended, James grabbed the remote and began flipping through their limited channels.

“Pawn Stars okay with you babe?”

No answer.

“Lisa?” James glanced down.

She was fast asleep, head resting on his arm and legs tossed over his. James rested one hand on her knees and reached down for her hand in his lap with the other, absently toying with the engagement and wedding rings there. A smile pulled at his lips as he remembered saving up for both of them for so long, using his savings and cutting his budget for pretty much everything else. Remembering it gave James hope. They were saving money. Maybe only a little at a time, but they were getting there. James would have his fairytale life someday, he just wished he didn’t have to do such slow, boring work for it.

xxxxxxx

Unlike the weekend, Monday was less than beautiful outside. Storm clouds rolled over the buildings, the wind blowing them by quickly and holding off the rain. The thunder and lightning did the job of darkening the city anyway.

James was more than happy to leave his office building despite the awful weather, being done with work for the day and ready to go home and relax. He headed to the parking garage across the street, glad he’d decided to drive that morning, and took the elevator to his car.

Just as he was sending a text to Lisa, letting her know she didn’t need to bus home from her office across town, there was a loud banging sound and a clattering of metal that echoed through the garage.

“Dammit!” The male voice sounded more frustrated than angry, and James glanced up in curiosity. A few rows down, a tall young man in a suit was leaned against a classic looking purple Ferrari, running a hand through his hair and aggressively texting on his cell phone. James was taken aback at seeing such a nice car in such a lowly garage. Surely anyone who could afford a car like that would pay to park it private.

James glanced around the garage. They were alone, but wouldn’t be for long, given the time of day. He looked back at the Ferrari. The man was cupping his hands at the glass to look inside, stopping after a minute to feel around in his pockets. James considered his options. He could ignore this man, obviously locked out of his car, or he could help him. Quickly checking the time on his watch, James breathed out and walked towards the man and his car.

“Locked out?” James cleared his throat and loosened his tie afterwards, wishing he didn’t have to ask such an obvious question to start a conversation.

“No, actually,” The man kept his eyes on the car, “My keys aren’t in the car either. My pissed off ex stole them from my office this morning, parked the gem here, and kept the keys for herself.”

“Oh, uh, that sucks.” James rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s-“

“Not telling me where the keys are, if that’s what you’re gonna ask.” The man finally looked up at James. They were nearly the same height, but he had dark blonde hair as opposed to James’ dark flop of it. He was also wearing a gray suit that was definitely tailored and probably cost a thousand dollars. James was in a white dress shirt and a tie Lisa had bought him for his birthday last year. James thought about what he’d told Lisa over the weekend, about looking for a better job. What better way to start looking than to help someone who was obviously already making millions?

“Brandon Sutter.” The man surprised James by reaching out his hand.

“James Neal.” He shook Brandon’s hand, thinking about how he could offer help while still sounding cool.

“I think I could get your car to start, I mean, we’d have to get inside first. But I’m pretty good with cars. And, uh, I know how to hot wire.”

Hot wiring a car was something James had learned back when he was in high school, when his mechanics teacher had a substitute who thought it was essential that the class know it. He hadn’t used it since then, but he definitely remembered how. James wasn’t lying when he said he was good with cars.

Brandon’s eyebrows lifted. He looked at James for a moment, as if considering his offer and deciding if this guy was worthy of even breathing on his Ferrari.

“Okay. How do we get in?”

Within ten minutes, James had managed to open the driver’s side door using a screwdriver from his car and his house key. He glanced at Brandon, who crouched next to him and was watching intently, several times. He didn’t seem to mind the minor damage his beautiful car was taking, so James went on. Sliding in behind the wheel, he tried to focus on the task at hand, and not the fact that he was in the driver’s seat of the nicest car he’d ever seen.

“I’m gonna have to strip the wheel, but I can put it back on once you get your keys…” James warned.

Brandon simply shrugged his shoulders and motioned for him to continue. He pulled off the pieces around the wheel and slid down the seat, carefully examining the wires. He’d need to be careful without gloves, but the wires he needed were the typical colors of red and brown. Using his screwdriver, he split the covers and stripped them, using the cuffs of his sleeves to grab and twist them together afterwards.

The ignition roared like a lion. Brandon applauded as James stepped out of the car, and shook his hand vigorously once he was straightened up.

“James Neal. Let me buy you a drink.”

James was about to accept the invitation before he remembered there was already someone waiting for him downtown.

“Shit,” James mumbled and turned to look at his car. “Uh. Yeah. Sure. Okay. Let’s go for drinks. I’ll have to meet you there though”

“Cool. Let’s do Jack’s, in South Side.” Brandon shook James’ hand one more time before climbing into his Ferrari. James watched as he pulled away and whipped down through the garage and out to the street.

xxxxxxx

“So you hot-wired this guy’s Ferrari and he wants to buy you a drink?” James had just relayed his parking garage encounter to Lisa, who was skeptical, to say the least. “I didn’t even know you knew how to do that, babe.”

“His last name is Sutter. I’ve never heard of him, but he drives a Ferrari! His suit cost at least a grand. He’s an executive somewhere, no doubt. This could be the big break, Lisa! He might be able to get me in somewhere, and we’ll be on our way!” James pulled the car to the curb in front of their building.

“I won’t be long, I promise.”

Lisa’s hand hesitated on her door handle. “Okay. Just… Be careful. I don’t want you to accidentally join the mob.” She smiled, but James didn’t notice the bit of sadness behind it as he leaned over the console to give her a kiss before driving away.

It was a bit of a drive in the rush hour traffic, but Jack’s was unsurprisingly slow for a Monday evening. It wasn’t hard to find Brandon. James’ plan was to get a few drinks in him, ask him casually about his job. Start slow. An hour later, it was James who was feeling the drinks, while Brandon, who seemed to know everyone behind the bar, was doing just fine.

“So if you hate your job, why are you still there?”

James shrugged his shoulders and took another drink of his beer.

“I don’t hate it, I guess. I mean, yeah, it’s really boring and impossible to move up in and pays shit.”

Brandon laughed and motioned for one of the servers.

“So you hate it.”

James sighed. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

“Well, we could use someone like you, if you’d be willing to switch.”

The conversation that had been making James feel hopeless shifted. His ears perked up.

“We? Where do you work?”

Brandon looked over his shoulder before turning closer to James, who instinctively leaned in as well.

“Not everyone knows that, James, and you’ll find out why soon enough. But you proved to me that you’re worth the risk when you helped me lift that Ferrari. You definitely don’t look like a car thief, but I guess looks can be deceiving.”

James’ eyes popped out of his head and nearly choked on his drink.

“What do you mean, ‘car thief’?! I didn’t help you steal anything, that was your car!” Suddenly, Lisa’s comment about the mob seemed all too real. "You're girlfriend took it from you..."

“Don’t worry, you won’t get caught. It was the old man’s fault for thinking he could trust his intern with parking his vintage car anyway.”

His heart was suddenly pounding, his mind racing and his hands shaking. He laid his head in them.

“Oh my God… I stole a car. No, I helped you steal a car. Someone’s Ferrari! Oh my God…” James stood up to leave, but was yanked back down by Brandon.

“Shhh! Are you crazy! Someone’s going to hear you. Now listen. Forget that you helped me steal that purple Ferrari that’s sitting outside of this restaurant and pay attention. You have the knowledge and ability to break into and hot wire a car. A nice car. Didn’t you say earlier that’s what you wanted? Nice things? You want that, and you can have it.”

James couldn’t believe his ears. Lisa was right, he was being propositioned by the mob! He didn’t even know there was a mob in Pittsburgh.

“I’m not in the mob. We’re much more sophisticated than that.” James realized he must have spoken his last thought out loud. Brandon yanked his hands from his face and forced him to look up.

“We are a group of very wealthy men, who may or may not have achieved our success through criminal means. How we got here isn’t the point. The point is, James, if you want power and money, I’m offering it to you right now. I have something you want, and you have something I want. We don’t kill anyone, we don’t torture anyone, and we don’t do petty theft. We simply even the playing field.”

“You’re asking me,” James took a shaky breath, “To join your gang and steal cars for you.” Brandon calmly nodded his head and took a drink as James continued. “And in return, I quit my completely legal job and make a lot of money, illegally.”

“I’m asking you to consider it.”

“And what am I supposed to consider when this all goes bat shit and I’m in jail with no job and no freedom?”

Brandon laughed. “I wouldn’t worry about that.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, writing quickly. “You take this. And you let me know if you’re interested. In the meantime, I’m gonna let you talk to someone else I work with. I think he may do a better job convincing you of our efficiency than I can.”

Sliding the paper across the table, Brandon stood up and tucked the pen away before grabbing his suit jacket off the back of the table, tossing a hundred dollar bill on the bar, and disappearing through the door. James sat frozen, in disbelief of what he’d just been told. He slowly read the piece of paper, scoffing when he did.

“Power Play. What a joke.” James nearly ripped it, but after eyeing the bill on the counter and thinking of what he felt when he was sitting in the driver’s seat of the Ferrari, he pocketed it. If it was still there the next day, he would know he hadn’t completely lost his mind.

xxxxxxx

Brandon Sutter hurried inside the building, wanting to keep his nicest suit dry. Most of their work on bad weather days was done from the inside; hacking, counterfeiting, planning their next gig. His destination currently occupied one of the seats behind the security desk, playing a card game with the man next to him. Brandon ran a hand through his hair as he approached.

“Hey man. Where’d you get that Ferrari from?”

“Matt. I need you to do something for me.”