Into The Devils Den

Alec half stumbled out from Red No. 5 to the streets, his eyes adjusted from the dark insides of the club and his head pounded like never before as he called for a car to pick him up.
”Don’t go to Red No. 5, it’s dangerous!” Alec made a stupid voice in his head as he cited Beanie Brooks words from their phone call. ”I can’t believe I actually thought that guy might have had something” Alec thought to himself ”…he turned out to just be another conspiracy theorist that no real news outlet would hire so he had too much time on his hands to tie up loose ends that didn’t belong together.”
The tires from the car screeched a bit as it stopped right in front of him, he stepped in the back and asked the driver to take him home. approachedoutrageous
Not one thing made sense in Alec’s mind and then he remembered the conversation with Bennet last night. About Alec going deeper in but that he still couldn’t know everything for his own protection. He did not question it, he was better off not knowing everything but still, he was told he needed to cut ties with Judah and Clara, an impossible ask…
All possible scenarios raced through his mind as his head hit the pillow while the sun was rising outside of the window to his apartment. What options really were there? His long term goals had gone out the window as soon as he started selling out information to Bennet, that was for sure. He had become infamous and now his action had put him at risk and it wasn’t unlikely that others would be caught in the crossfire soon.  Maybe cutting ties with Clara and Judah was the right choice even if going in with Bennet was the wrong one. Alec cared deeply about his old friends and if someone would get hurt because of his affiliations it would wreck him.
Alec spent the rest of the weekend locked up in his apartment dodging phone calls and pondering his inevitable decision. heading
He found Clara in her office smiling as always and asked her to join him in Judah’s office. He always liked having the heart to heart discussions among the organized chaos that was Judahs office rather than his own corner office that was more a showroom for potential clients than a work space.
”What’s wrong honey?” Clara although the same age as Alec talked to him as if she were his mother.  ”All kinds of shit, you know what happened to me just last week, it’s taken it’s toll and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this. I don’t know who that bastard was and I don’t know if he will be coming back for me and I don’t have the slightest idea on how to keep anyone safe. You guys know that the police is not likely to do shit about anything regarding my person. We know what kind of people I have helped go free from heinous acts. I can’t risk your safety.”
Judah raised his eyes from the computer screen, ”well good, then we drop some clients.”  Alec shook his head, ”it’s too late for that I’m afraid, I’m in it too deep and even if we get rid of any client we deem too dangerous this is something from the past and we don’t know what else is lurking in the shadows.”  ”What are you trying to say?” Clara tilted her head looking concerned towards Alec.  ”You need to cut ties with me…” Alec stared back intensely at Clara.
What transpired were the worst few hours of Alec’s life. He had been through some tough times in many ways but all he truly wanted was to go back to the days in college when the three of them planned for their future and just spent time together.  Alec knew nothing was ever going to be the same.
Clara was furious and Judah just sat silent in his chair while Clara yelled and cried as Alec tried to keep calm. After a few hours Judah suddenly stood up and walked over to Clara and put his hand on her shoulder, ”he is not changing his mind, I’ll draw up the details.”  Clara turned to Judah then back to Alec and smacked Alec right over the cheek before storming out and leaving the building.
”You keep the offices, I’ll find something new.” Alec looked towards Judah not hesitating knowing that saying anything else in that moment was redundant, he could never truly make up for what they had done for him, and now he was doing this.  ”No, not a chance, you’ll have to stay here looking into her empty room knowing how you made her feel and knowing you were the one to abandon us.” Judah spoke with more confidence than ever before and Alec did not have it in him to speak up against him.
They spent the afternoon going through how they would divide the clients and other assets. Alec took way less than he would have in a split under any other circumstance. But the big profile clients stayed with him and for some reason he asked for the English diplomat Pierce specifically, there was something there that called to his curiosity that he couldn’t let go off.
”I hope you do know I really am doing this for you, I love you guys you know that right?” Alec looked as Judah stood in the elevator leaving the building at the end of the week with both his and Claras things cleared out.  
His gut wrenched and he slid down to the floor bellowing out a scream.
After awhile he stood up and the emotional pain had turned into anger, ”fucking Bennet has some explaining to do, I have given up fucking everything, he better let me in on something good or I’m selling his ass to the fucking Feds even if I get thrown in jail myself.”
He marched in to his office looking out over the city as the signal from his phone went through….
By Joel Nordkvist