Chapter 52

***Levi.***

Harlem brought back memories that I would have preferred buried. But desperate times they say, called for desperate measures. And I had to take this.

The car drove to a very isolated side of Harlem, not too far from the Harlem River. The building site, decades long abandoned, was dilapidated. Sometimes serving as a refuge for homeless people. I inwardly wondered how the tall building still stood. My gaze observed it from my side of the window, my mind anxious. There was no light on the building or its surrounding. It was all pitch black.

Climbing down the vehicle, I felt the stinging cold, my throat tightening. The smell of the last drops of rain, remained.

I clasped my coat, plumes coming out of my mouth. I had another car waiting a little further down, while Blake and I walked towards the tall building. The air was humid and smelled of filth. I masked the feelings and continued to walk. Blake's phone vibrated with an incoming call. We stopped, sharing a look, before Blake answered it.

"Top floor." Blake quietly announced, after he ended the call.

I nodded and together we continued. Navigating the building site, using Blake's torch. We climbed the stairs, my body growing rigid, my senses alert, as we mounted each step. The building evoking long forgotten memories to my mind's surface. My lips tightened, as a memory found its way in.

***18 years ago...***

*'Please, please, don't do this man. I swear I didn't mean to go against your orders. I" A sharp scream followed the words, the echoes from the building shrilling the night.*

*"Levi, Finish this. I don't want this mother fucker in my eyes one minute longer." A voice ordered, quietly.*

*The words a familiar sing song. I rose from where I had been sitting on a broken table, mindlessly watching the entire scene. Drawing closer, my steps taken in slow strides, I reached the screaming man, who was hung upside down from a rope. My eyes turned stone cold, my lips thin as I observed the man. Writhing and alarmed. Worrying his bonds, the man whimpered. Recognition in his eyes as he saw me.*

*"Please, LeviPlease. Ask him to give me another chance. It was Black PeaBlack Pea suggested the drop to Ice Fred, for better cutYou know I wouldn't do bad on him, man." The man desperately pleaded.*

*Pulling my blade, the light catching the fire that burned in a beat up barrel, I sneered.*

*"No one but him, calls me Levi here." I growled, quietly. "And as for Black Pea, he's own is coming."*

*At the horrorstruck look on the whimpering man's face, I grinned, darkly. With a precise stroke, my blade sliced the man's throat. A deep gurgling sound, quieting the night. The others that surrounded the fire, standing horrorstruck, staring at me with apprehensive eyes.*

***Now...***

"We're on the right floor, Levi." Blake's nudge shook me off that memory.

I stared blankly at Blake, trying to gather my thoughts. Then shuffles of footsteps came from beside me and we turned to see the shadow of a man, standing at the far end of what should have been a corridor. The man approached us, Blake shining his torch on him. He stood on a doorway, covered by a makeshift, plastic bag. The entire building was filled with such similar sights.

"You made it. Already thought I needed to take my offer elsewhere." The man jeered, the scent of smoke clouding him. He wore a camel colored trench coat, frayed at the edges. A pair of glasses, it's bridge held by a white tape, hung on his gaunt face. His hair, ruffled.

"Do you have all the existing evidence we asked for?" Blake asked, impatiently, ignoring the man.

"I believe the Senatorial aspirant has a tongue." The man jabbed. Blake moved for the man, but I stayed him.

"Give us a minute, Blake."

Blake levelled a hard gaze on the man, before he walked away.

Walking towards a window, away from earshot, I turned to the man, who now stood beside me. The dim light from the moon, illumined the man's features. He was a stupid Journalist; I had already deduced that. But I was willing to negotiate, because I had something to lose. This guy, I doubted, even knew where his next meal would come from.

"I have worked years as a freelance journalist, but never have I snagged the amount of money I have received on your account. I was paid by Crompton to dig out shit on you, you know. But your shit has been hard to find. I refused to give Crompton the files, because he didn't want to pay me all I asked. I only watered his appetite. Gave him a sneak peek to what I had." The man bragged, arrogantly.

"So instead I decided to find you, knowing you would need this more. They're all in here. In this hard drive." The man chuckled, tapping his hand against his coat. Then lighting what must be another cigarette, he dragged on it. I silently watched him, expressionlessly.

"How much do you want?" I was curt, glaring hard. A grating chuckle sliced into the silence.

"Precise. I like that. No wonder you were hard to find. But I'll give you that, you are a reputable man, on the surface." The man sneered, smugly. He contemplated for a few moments. "10 million dollars and you've got the damned hard drive."

Momentarily gauging the man's words, I nodded. "Deal. My man would handle that. Just leave him the details, before we head out"

"AhAnd" The journalist cut in, mischievously. "I always wanted a house on the Bahamas. Something that I and the Misses and my little kids can enjoy." My jaw twitched. My lips a tight line, sensing the man's cunningness. I was ready to bet that the man had no wife or kids. But I was desperate to end this, before word reached Kenya.