Mad Men

James shuffled through the hallways, following the two men into the lobby and down to the parking garage. They’d put their sunglasses back on and hadn’t spoken a word since dismissing themselves from Brandon’s office and ordering James to come with them. The duo was only matching fedoras away from two skinny Blues Brothers.

James could only guess what this meeting would be about, but he was pretty sure there was only one possible topic; Lisa. She’d surely gone to the police and they’d surely be counting on James to make sure she dropped the charges and left Power Play alone. It was not something he wanted to think about, let alone talk about to a man he’d never met but had heard enough stories to paint a very intimidating picture.

The silence was broken only by the echoing of shows in the underground. As James suspected, they headed for the Black Escalade. One of the men glanced back at him, still giving nothing away from his expression, but when the other man moved to walk to the driver’s side of the vehicle, he cracked a wide smile.

“What do you think you’re doing? You’re not driving, no way.”

The second man laughed and jingled the keys in front of him.

“Well I have the keys, so…”

“You’re absolutely the worst driver, and you’ve driven the last 10 times!”

The jovial bickering between the two did nothing to put James at ease, but it did make him brave enough to speak up after he settled into the back seat.

“Are you guys bodyguards or something?” James felt like a little kid when they both turned around from their seats to look at him.

“Definitely,” The driver answered first, with the man in the passenger seat nodding authoritatively, “We’re totally bodyguards.”

“We’re better than the Secret Service, that’s for sure.” The pair laughed at their apparent inside joke. James sensed they were being lightly sarcastic, so he pressed again.

“So what, you’re like, second in command? To the Boss, I mean.”

Finally the pair took off their sunglasses. The driver reach towards James, palm out for a handshake.

“Kunitz.”

“Dupuis.”

James shook their hands but didn’t bother to introduce himself. It was silent again until the car was out on the street.

“You probably want answers,” Kunitz looked at James briefly through the rear view before resting his eyes back on the road. “But you won’t get very many. The Boss is obviously a very secretive man.”

“Great guy though.” Dupuis’ smile was so mischievous as he looked back again, James couldn’t tell if he was lying or being honest.

“Really, if we knew anything, we’d tell you. Ease your nerves”

“Only after letting you suffer for a while.” They laughed again. “You shouldn’t be worried. Boss has had his eye on you for a long time.”

James wanted to ask what they meant by that, but knew they wouldn’t give him anything.

“I’m not worried.”

There were a lot of questions bouncing around in his head. As much as James had been an emotionless wreck since the incident, he couldn’t deny that these characters had his attention. He’d wondered for months who the Boss was, what he looked like, how he’d started Power Play, and why. The anticipation couldn’t be held by anything. He’d be face to face with the man behind it all. And maybe, just maybe, James could talk himself into a deal.

The trip was surprisingly short. Brandon had once said that the Boss was in the Banking District, but the man was such a mystery, James couldn’t imagine him being so close. It wasn’t unthinkable that James had seen this man before, passed him on the street and never knew.

The building was plain; the outside blended into the buildings around it, looking nice and kept but bearing no sign to what it might be. A person walking by wouldn’t look twice.

Kunitz parked the Escalade right outside, ignoring the ‘No Parking Anytime’ sign and slipping a small piece of paper into one of the windshield wipers. Dupuis punched a code into the keypad outside of the large steel doors before swiping a card and pulling the handle. James looked right into the security camera hidden in the corner of the entryway.

James expected the hustle and bustle that he was used to inside of Power Play’s headquarters. Surely the top of the pyramid would be insanely busy at all times. But the lobby was empty except a sign next to the elevator with floor numbers and what could be found on each one. The names were obscure and gave nothing away; Finance, Engineering, Filing, Communication. The last floor read ‘Executive Office’. That button was pressed. When the elevator doors closed, Kunitz procured a cell phone and hit one digit before putting it to his ear. It was only a moment before he spoke.

“We’re coming up now.” James couldn’t hear anything on the other side of the line but there was a pause. Kunitz glanced at him in the corner of the elevator. “He looks like we expected him to look.”
The rest of the phone call was ‘Yes’s and ‘Mhmm’s before he hung up and the lift came to a stop. The doors opened with a ding.

“His office is at the end of the hall. You can find your way out when you’re finished?” Kunitz walked out of the elevator, his question really more of a statement. Dupuis followed him.

“Good luck.” There was that smile again.

James left the elevator and finally began to feel nervous. The two men went into a room directly across from where he stood. At one end of the corridor, the hall turned another direction. He looked the other way. It was a long hall, but he could clearly see a closed door at the end of it. Taking a deep breath, James walked that way. He thought about what he might say, how he might avoid having to do any more work for Power Play, especially work that would be against Lisa. He could be rational; his wife had been kidnapped for God’s sakes, his marriage was ruined because of it. He hadn’t done anything wrong. But it was likely that the Boss wasn’t a rational man. He was an international criminal, and man with people on the inside of every government and every group of power. James could beg; plead to be let go, or fired, or whatever happens with organized crime. That seemed like a good plan. He wouldn’t have to fake his emotions, at least. If he had to beg to get out of Power Play and find a way back to his wife, he would do it without a second thought.
He came to a stop in front of the door. It had no label, no nameplate. The Boss knew he was coming. James held a shaking fist over the door for a moment before knocking.

“Come in.”

Slowly, James turned the handle and opened the door.

The first thing he noticed was that, unlike the hallway and the lobby, there was no lack of windows in this office. In fact, the entire back wall was glass, washed and wiped so that you might think there was nothing between yourself and the sky at all. The view was spectacular, overlooking the city and giving a magnificent view of the Three Rivers. The light coming in lit up the office, which was tastefully furnished and full of dark furniture and bookshelves stuffed to capacity with books and paperwork. In front of the windows was a large desk, behind which was seated a man with short dark hair, wearing a suit of course, who finished writing something down before standing and walking towards James. To his surprise, the Boss was several inches shorter than him. He had a strong, powerful Greek facial structure but smiled tightly as he shook James’ hand.

“James Neal. Good to finally meet you. My name is Sidney Crosby.”

xxxxxxx

Brandon was pressed for time. He had to hope beyond all hope that this would work. Brooksy had come up with the idea, Tanner Glass had obviously made it possible. They would go unquestioned, the police presence having been regular since the botched robbery. Of course, it wouldn’t be necessary if she wasn’t avoiding the large suburban home her husband bought for her.

Lisa Neal was a victim of chance, a person in the wrong place at the wrong time who also happened to hold all of the power in her situation. And apparently, she hadn’t used it yet. She hadn’t played all of her cards. She was frustrated with police, who wouldn’t go to the address where she’d been held, wouldn’t arrest the men whose name’s she’d given them. She wanted to press charges but they seemed to be putting it off. Lisa was starting to worry that they knew she was hiding… things. Protecting people. Neither side was budging.

So there were too things to be achieved by the two men dressed as police officers when they entered Allen Insurance. The first was to shut up Lisa Neal. The police could ignore the other workers, feign ignorance or fake an arrest. But not for a woman who had been kidnapped. And that simply wouldn’t do if Power Play would maintain existence, which it would. The second goal was to help a friend who, while was by no means innocent, did not deserve to have his wife kidnapped. And his wife deserved formal apologies and explanations.

So Brandon and Brooks, as Officers Schumake and Haller, waited in a small conference room, hoping their disguises might hold up just long enough, and stood as Lisa entered. She looked exhausted.

“Sorry to bother you, Mrs. Neal, but Officer Haller and I just have a few new questions for you.”

Lisa sat down at the table and waved her hand. “Go ahead. But I don’t know what more you need to know when I’ve given you an address, names, faces. And you haven’t done anything.” She glared back and forth between them. Brandon cleared his throat.

“Okay. The first thing we want to do is clear up a few question marks in your story.” There was a pause where Lisa still stared ahead so he went on. “Why did they let you go? They only held you for a short time, and they didn’t do anything to you, you said, but tie you up.”

Lisa sighed. “I already told the detective that I don’t know why. They just did.”

“And they let you walk out, just like that? Knowing you would be able to go to the police with an address and faces and names?

This time, she only shrugged. Brooks spoke for the first time.

“So you didn’t know any of these guys. Maybe a friend of a friend?”

For the first time, Lisa’s face flashed with something, but she covered it quickly. “No.”

Brandon walked casually to the coffee pot by the door, shutting leaning against it as he drank from his cup. “Tell us about your husband, Mrs. Neal.”

She didn’t bother hiding her emotions this time, feeling her empty ring finger in her other hand.

“That’s an awfully strange question, seeing as we’re talking about my kidnapping that you aren’t doing anything about. If you’re done bothering me, I’m going back to work now.” She stood up quickly, turning only to find Brandon blocking the door. She turned back to Brooks as both men removed their hats and facial hair.

“Here’s the deal, Mrs. Neal. If you haven’t figured it out already, Power Play is more powerful than the Pittsburgh PD. We’re stronger than the local government, the state government, and we wouldn’t be surprised if there were others like us in the most powerful positions in the national government. Whatever you say, and whatever you do, you can’t stop us. What you can do is accept an apology. We’re not monsters. We just like to live in luxury without the boundaries of law or societal order. We- I, am truly sorry you had to be caught in the crossfire of our community and a real lowlife group of guys.”

“Are you crazy?” Lisa could do nothing but look back and forth between the two men with shock. “You expect me to just, what, forget about this whole thing? You, and James, you are the lowest of the low. You lie and you steal and you don’t care who you hurt.” Lisa’s voice shook and she began crying, whether from anger or sadness it was unclear, but her voice had a low, striking calmness. “I love him. I did everything I could for him, and he lied to me. He lied to me and he dragged me down with him. He destroyed our marriage. And for what? To join a group of criminals in their quest to be masters of the universe. Well I’ve got news for you-“

“You love him?” Brooks pushed off from where he was resting on the table. Lisa looked at him without answering.

“If you love him, please, forgive him. He fucked up. We all fuck up every day. But he never meant to hurt you. You’re both young, he was scared and looking for some way to give you everything he believes you deserve. James may have lied to you, hidden his job from you, broke the law and disrespected your marriage; but he loves you. And we both know if he had a second chance, he would go back and erase everything.”

The silence in the room was deafening for Lisa because her thoughts were so loud. She looked at both of the guys and looked back down at the floor.

“I don’t know if I can forgive him.” She whispered.

Slowly, Brandon reached into his back pocket and pulled out something small. He set it on the table in front of Lisa and motioned for Brooks to follow him as he headed out the door. It was a little gold ring with a small diamond on top. Modest and humble but the most priceless piece of jewelry Lisa had ever owned. A symbol and love and commitment and the promise to be with someone through thick and thin. It was her wedding ring.

“You probably won’t ever understand what pushed James to do what he did,” Brandon started to leave, “But you are right about one thing, Mrs. Neal. We are mad men.”

xxxxxxx

I talked to Evgeni this afternoon, before you arrived. He sends a hello.” Sidney Crosby had sat back at his desk, James across from him. “You must have become quite close with many of the men during these last few months, eh?”

James nodded, biting his tongue to not shout out his thousand questions at once.

“They’re good guys really. They would never intentionally betray one of their brothers.” Crosby folded his hands on his desk. “But not everyone is good. Penalty Kill, for example. Group of roaches really. I’ve never been able to get rid of them, not since this all began.”

James opened his mouth to ask for more details, but Sidney kept talking.

“Their interference with our job was outstanding; I’ve always known they were reckless, but I also always assumed them to be gutless. All talk and no game. Apparently I was wrong.” He rubbed his hand over his face, wiping away whatever emotion he was about to let come out in his words. “You can imagine all of the problems that have arisen from this incident. All kinds of unavoidable police involvement, a halt to all local jobs and acquisitions, a kidnapping of an innocent woman.” James’ eyes shot up, “Your wife. She’s caused us a lot of problems, James.”

“She hasn’t done anything wrong.” James’ voice was quiet but sure. His own confidence surprised him. Crosby’s face said he was not surprised at all.

“No, she hasn’t. But you can understand why we have to cut you loose.”

James’ face furrowed in confusion. “What?”

“It took me a year to find you, someone of your skill and need and willingness. And now I have to let you go over something that didn’t need to happen. But we can’t change the past, James. We can only learn from it and be better.”

“I still don’t understand… You’re… firing me? From Power Play?” James’ tone was doubtful.

“No, I’m not firing you; you haven’t done anything wrong. I’m letting you go. Of course, with fair warning about keeping this very private past few months of your life a secret. They’ll be no need for us to interfere with you ever again if you can keep that promise.”

The look in Sidney Crosby’s eyes; one of compassion, sympathy, perhaps even amusement; said it wasn’t luck. It was generosity. And James would be smart to take it and never come back.

“I-“ James stuttered and tried to think of something to say. “What do I do now?”

Sidney shrugged his shoulders. “You can keep what you’ve earned. The rest is up to you. Except, of course, the issue with your wife. Lisa is a force to be reckoned with. I’ll give you your chance to soften her up before we would need to… intervene.”

“She won’t talk to me. How can you blame her.”

Crosby smirked. “You better keep trying.”

James stood, unsure of what else to do, and shook his ex-Boss’s hand as he mirrored his movements.

“Sorry, again, about all of this Mr. Neal. It’s really a shame that we have to let you go.”

James nodded, feeling quite like he was in a dream until he made it out of the office door, down the hallway, and into the elevator. It was there that he squatted down, hands pulling his glasses off and tugging on his hair. He was in a cold sweat. Could that meeting have been real? Could he be that lucky? He was no longer in Power Play. James was, by all means, a free man. But Sidney Crosby’s warnings echoed in his head and sent shivers down his spine.

It was only when he’d walked into the lobby and stared at the pouring rain that he realized he had no idea where to go or how to get there.

xxxxxxx

The mood was tense; every trace of James had been cleaned out of Headquarters, and a collection of car keys had been sorted through and split between the rest of the guys. He’d taken a taxi back to Headquarters, where he found Brandon and the guys waiting for him. All of Power Play was gathered into the recreation room, ready to toast to their companion and make their final goodbyes. It was understood that they couldn’t keep in touch afterwards.

On one hand, James was sad to let what his life had become go; with all of the negativity, there was also what had drawn him in and kept him in the first place. The sense of belonging, the thrills, the endless possibilities. In a way, Power Play had become his brothers.

But Lisa was the love of his life. He’d let everything go wrong in the first place, but he had to fix it. And that meant saying goodbye.

It was solemn. Things had understandably been a bit awkward after the incident, though there were no hard feelings. It was strange to James that he could look around and say that this was no longer his life.

But we can’t change the past, James. We can only learn from it and be better.

Brooks approached James and shook his hand. How he maintained such a solid balance with his personal life and work life was a mystery.

“Well, James, I know you had to suffer more than anyone to get here, but you’re halfway back to normal desk life.” Brooks motioned for James to follow him to sit. “I want to tell you kind of a story.”
James nodded, hoping this wasn’t going to be pointless.

“When Power Play was started, there were four guys. Can you guess who they might be?”

James caught Brooks’ eye. “Crosby, Dupuis, Kunitz… and you?”

Brooks nodded like that was the answer he expected, but that it wasn’t right. “Not me, a man named Craig Adams. He really was a mastermind. His genius wasn’t even rivaled by Crosby.”

“What happened to him?” James asked, on cue.

“Things in the beginning were, messy, to say the least. Things went wrong often. After a particularly personal incident, he needed out. He’s a marriage counselor now. Can you guess what happened to him?”

James mouth opened to a tiny gasp of air. Brooks pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to James. It was a business card with Craig Adams’ name and number.

“Call Lisa when you get home. I have a feeling she’ll answer this time.”