The culprit

Chapter 3. Confidential documents

"This is the list of all the members of the Nexus Club, it isn't much because it's an exclusive club with limited members."

James presents the list on the screen, briefing everyone on the team after his mission.

"William Armani, the CEO of Skyblink was talking about Gabriel's death. He mentioned someone as "Silas" being behind all these killings and before he could say more, his associate 'Richard Davis', Co-founder of Caltech silenced him.

I have held both of them hostage, would you like to meet them Edward?" He asks Edward amusingly because he does the interrogation work.

He's good at breaking people and making them recite their sins. "Sure," says Edward and I incline my head toward the others, signalling to go and meet our first leads of this case.

I enter the empty spacious room we've specifically created for interrogation purposes.
It has all the essentials- weapons, hostages tied to the chair and one bulb which is enough to illuminate the room. Both of them are conscious as we enter the room.

"Who the fuck are you?" Armani screams, clearly outraged. I motion at Edward to take this further.

He punches his jaw and then introduces us as the special task force assigned on this case.

"Who is Silas?" I ask him in the same authoritative tone I've used for every interrogation.

Armani remains silent while Richard gives him a meaningful glance, clearly indicating why he suggested remaining silent in the club. When he hesitates to answer, Edward pulls his hair and points the gun in his temple.
"This is for the best we need clues on who's behind this mayhem."

I inform them. Armani tenses before answering "A colleague, he worked with us years ago but due to some disagreements he broke the partnership and threatened to go to the police. We had no option but to eradicate him." A dark look passes across his eyes before sobering up.

"Cut the shit, Armani and tell me the details. I ain't here to solve riddles. What was this partnership? What threat are you talking about? Why did you eradicate him?
And most importantly if he's been eradicated then how is he responsible for the deaths happening in the last few months?" I demand answers from him, making clear what's at stake here if he doesn't cooperate with us.

Richard starts talking, catching me off guard. "We were a group of 10 people straight out of college, working on a start up plan.

Henry Brown, Arthur Rodriguez, Walter Smith, Gabriel Ferrara, William Armani, Richard Davis, Silas Volkov and Ruth Volkov."

Everyone in the room freezes as he recites the names of the last six victims with the other names.

Realization dawns upon me as I say "Then I hope you realize what this means, Richard. The killer might be targeting you guys."

Richard looks me dead in the eye and says "We are aware and we need your help, It was me who contacted Victor."

This man is an idiot if he thought withholding this kind of information was a good idea.
"Why wasn't I made known to all of this? You do realise what's happening here?" I ask him, in pure disbelief.

"It was to test your capability. I couldn't provide you with all the details without making sure you're useful. I couldn't go to the police department either, this case isn't for the general public."

I couldn't believe Victor kept this from me. I've worked for that man for longer than I can remember.

"How did I do on this little test then?" I ask Richard in a mocking sweet tone. "Victor was right, I could trust you with this."

He appears to say that to himself more than to me. "Get me out of this and I'll show you what I'm talking about." he says referring to the binds.

"No, we don't have any reason to trust you. Tell us every single detail before we even think about releasing you." says Edward and I agree with him.

Richard seems irritated but talks nonetheless. "We were working on building security systems for large corporations.It was awesome.

We had the latest technology, heavily encrypted data that had limited access, something that would look ordinary to the general public but under the website hid confidential documents that were worth millions.
Ever heard of Shadow Net? We created that."

This feels like a fever dream. "Shadow Net was a website on the dark web that offered Built-in security algorithms to wealthy elites, known for its exclusivity. Until one day it was shut down anomalously." I tell him.

"We shut it down, we had to." Richard says, sounding distressed. "Our website was Exclusive as fuck but it wasn't enough, We needed more money for the expansion. Hence, we decided to sell some data on the dark web to the rival companies and Government.
It was Income Tax files and criminal records.

Everyone agreed to it because those wealthy bastards deserved to rot in hell, except Silas and his wife, Ruth.

He had morals all of a sudden and sympathy for those selfish rich people, I said if they could get away with all of this then, so can we but he never agreed saying it's bad for the business and it's not professional and ethical.

So we kept it from him, sold data without letting him know but he found out one day and threatened everyone that he would report us and sue all of us. Why? so that he could own the entire start-up while we rot in jail. We had no option but to kill him and his wife.

We erased all the evidence but someone knows about this and is probably planning my demise as we speak. Both of us are being targeted by someone.

I don't know who it is. Silas had no relatives and we burned his house down. We need you to save us and find out who is behind this, I'm ready to pay you." Richard sounds desperate by the end of this.

I stare at him silently comprehending everything he said. Why should I save this rat's ass when he failed to be a decent human. I need to talk to Victor about this. I can already feel the migraine building behind my eyelid.

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Ohhhhh that was a lot! What do you think happens next? Should Amara save them? Who exactly is the culprit? I'd love to know your theories and guesses on this. Also a big hug to everyone that is currently reading my story, it means alot. I promise I won't disappoint. Please share it with anyone who is interested. Don't forget to vote and comment. Follow me on instagram to see their edits. Thank you, see ya next week ;)