Chapter 07: The beginning

Aiden's P.O.V 'I'm sorry for disturbing," Mr. Mintz says as he takes a sip of his coffee 'Make your order," he pushes the menu to my direction 'I had dinner with your son," I smile moving forward. 'It's good to know that you can get along with him, he is such a trouble," he chuckles dryly and exhales 'He is very stubborn and immature sometimes," he continues, I nod in reply agreeing to his statement as Riley is really a brat sometimes, I could see some kind of sparkle in Mr. Mintz eyes when he speaks, the spark which can be seen only on parents 'He was on a bumpy road since the beginning of his career and he lost his mother few years back" he removes his spectacles and places it on the table 'She was hit by a car in front of his eyes, it took him a long time to get over it," he speaks his heart out and I stay there attentive to his story, the nostalgic expression on his face shows that he is spilling his heart out 'But he is really a good person." 'Yea, he is," I reply pouring the liquor to the glass 'What's wrong?" I question pushing the glass close to his plate, he stays still for a while when I sit back and face him 'I know that something's wrong," I continue 'You know, whenever dad is in trouble, he spills his heart to me telling me the story of me being born," I pass him a slight smile when he gulps down the liquor. The way he speaks really reminds me of die ad. He stays silent for a while and says 'They know it's me," he states dryly pinching the bridge of his nose 'The men in the restaurant were sent by the general manager of the company," 'How do you know it?" I question curiously, he is really in a mess right now. 'They saw me taking pictures and testing chemicals in the lab," he lets out a sigh and continues 'I overheard the phone call conversation before entering his office. He thinks I'm oblivious of their information," he fills the glass again and gulps down the liquor in one shot 'Don't you drink?" he asks passing me a slight smile. I don't know why but in one way or the other I'm kind of worried about him. I don't want him to be in trouble and if I was in his shoes, I would surely be terrified. 'No, I go crazy if I do," he begins to laugh nodding his head 'You are just like your dad," he comments, that smile never leaving his face. The air with in us takes over silence again for a moment and I break it 'so what's your plan?" I lean forward to hear him speak. 'Plan?" he repeats drinking again, placing the glass on the table he looks straight at me 'They are keeping me alive till they get the evidence from me so the only thing which we can do is to open the case soon." 'Start filing a case tomorrow, we can take them to court then," 'Aiden," he calls out softly, my already attentive self gets even more attentive 'You can resign," 'Why?" my voice comes out loud without my realization. 'It's dangerous. I'm sure that they will be after Riley so I've decided to send him to Italy and I don't want you to be involved in this," 'Is it because of dad?" I question puzzled 'Did he ask you to keep me out of this," I ask. 'It's not because he requested me to do so, keeping you makes me selfish," 'No, it doesn't," I snap 'You can send Riley as you decided and I'll resign as you wish but being put out of this is not in my plan," pulling out my phone from my jacket's pocket I place it on the table 'The proof of drugs in the warehouse," I state pushing the phone to his side. Mr. Mintz takes it and slides through the images. 'How did you?" 'Piece of cake," I boast. 'You better not go for them again," 'Weren't you the one who needed my help," I argue losing my patience 'And I will be going after them anyways," 'Aiden," he calls softly 'I just want you all to be safe," 'And we do the same too…I just want dad and mom to be safe and I'm sure that Riley wants the same too," I move forward looking into his weak eyes 'I want my family back. I promised myself that I will get dad out of there and protect mom till he returns and now I promise myself that I will keep you and Riley safe. You can give up if you want to but I won't. After all the evil continues and I just cannot sit and watch them rule people's lives. Uncle," I mention softly holding his hand on the table 'My parents always tell me that it is okay to give up but they have no idea of the consequences if there is a 'give up'. I'm not doing this only for dad, it's for all the victims who lost their loved ones. For the people who were killed and got no justice for the exchange of money," My lips spreads to a slight smile and I continue 'I will destroy them and every penny they collected, I will collapse all those productions to make them stop.," 'I haven't come across anyone like you," Mr. Mintz chuckles rubbing the back of his neck, he massages his shoulder and fills the glass again. I wait there till he finishes and after ages he finally stops drinking and there, he sits laying his head on the table. Running my hand through my hair I move my sight to the left and right watching the four empty bottles, he is completely drunk. A sigh of relief leaves my lips when the taxi which I hailed stops by the pavement, helping Mr. Mintz in I get in as he is not in a state of going alone. Giving the address on his business card I wait, my mind recalling his words. He must have freaked out knowing the truth. Taking the keys from Mr. Mintz bag which I've been looking for hours, I unlock the door of his office, I look down to my right where I placed him seated on the ground, he stays still staring at an empty spot. Clapping my hands to encourage myself to take him in I let out a growl as dragging him from the road to the end of the lane was exhausting enough, grunting low I help him on his feet, moving his arm around my neck I hold him tight by his waist and we walk in. Looking around I examine every corner of his office, the room was not modified and it seems like a regular space, placing Mr. Mintz on the sofa I stand straight breaking my knuckles. I walk around examining my surrounding, this person is completely opposite from his son as he has kept his files and the papers neat. I stop in my tracks when my eyes fell on the bulletin board by the corner of the room, my eyebrows furrow as my fingers trace the words below the familiar photos and there Eric is pinned as well. How he is aware of everything? My fingers never stop flipping the pages of the file, my mind recalling the scene a year back about Tony the one whom I arrested for a rape case but the case was taken by Eric later on, he was released few months after the case was called out proving that he is not in guilt. I stop reading the paper inside the polythene sheet of the file where the photo of Tony and the victim Sarah are stapled. The information and the scene details are accurate from what I thought and believed; it was Eric who covered up everything. Mr. Mintz has known it all, now I realize that he was the lawyer whom I wanted to meet but couldn't as he was the lawyer of the victim. if pull out another file from the pile flipping through the papers my mind reading every single word printed on it, all the cases, literally all cases have not been closed due the false statement of proofs, Eric is related to all the cases and the lawyer of the opposition is Tira, the one stated that my father is guilty. I never stop going through all the files and the papers getting to know everything which I was blind of. My body shoots straight when the ringtone captures the silent surrounding where only the ticking of the clock was playing. I walk towards the sofa where Mr. Mintz is laying with his mouth open and seriously, he is snoring while sleeping being drunk! Scooting down I pull out the ringing phone from his pocket, the caller id states Harry. Harry? Gripping on the phone tight I look at the board again farther even though it's not clear in the distance I'm sure that it's the person who is pinned on the board next the picture of dad, he had worked in the AIMS company at the warehouse but resigned when he saw something which he was not supposed to, he saw the illegal ingredients of drugs being added to the medical liquids in the lab. I hesitate to answer the call but waking Mr. Mintz up right now is definitely a difficult task, answering the call I move the phone to my ear, my eyes widens when I hear him. "They are after me" he pants, fear visible in his tone even though that I'm not seeing him right now "It's for the usb," he lets out a heavy breath and by my understanding I think that he is running "I'm scared! please come soon," "Where are you?' I ask immediately walking out "Harry, listen to me," I fasten my footsteps running to the road "Find some place to hide, make sure that they don't see you and tell me where you are now," "I'm by the port in the sixth street, close to the office, I see a boat by the bridge I'm going to hide," "Good, I'll be there soon, be on line," I put the phone on speaker, pushing it into my jacket's pocket I run to the west as fast as I could. Bending low I rest my palms on my knees panting, I'm out of breath, wiping the sweat on my forehead I stand straight and there the five men are in front of me.