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 and exhales “He is very stubborn and immature sometimes,”
I nod in reply, his statement is totally agreeable. His eyes sparkle, the spark which can only be seen 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 says. I stay there attentive to his story, the nostalgic expression on his face shows he is spilling his heart out “But he is really a good person.”
“Yea, he is,” I reply as I pour the liquor to the glass “What’s wrong?” I question pushing the glass closer to his plate, he stays silent for a while. 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. He tells me the story of my birth ” I pass him a gentle smile. He gulps down the liquor. The way he speaks really reminds me of dad.
“They know it’s me,” he says “The men in the restaurant were sent by the president.”
“How do you know it?” I question concerned. 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 Kevin’s phone call conversation.” 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 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,” I shrug “My alcohol tolerance is very weak.”
He laughs nodding his head “You are just like your dad,” he comments. That smile on his face makes me feel better.
The air with in us takes over silence for a moment and I break it “So, what’s your plan?” I lean forward to hear him speak.
“Plan?” he repeats and drinks again. He places the glass on the table and 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.”
“File a case tomorrow, we can take them to court,”
“Aiden,” he calls out softly, my already attentive self gets even more attentive “You can resign.”
“Why?”
“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? 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 I will never step out of this till I find the president of that corrupted company,” I pull out my phone from my jacket pocket and 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 “Alike I told, stepping out of this case is not in my plan,”
“Aiden, I just want you to be safe,”
“And I do the same too…I just want dad and mom to be safe. I’m sure 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 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 but I won’t. After all the evil continues and I just cannot sit and watch them rule people’s lives. Uncle,” I hold 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,” I breathe and continue “I will destroy them.”
“I haven’t came across anyone like you,” Mr. Mintz chuckles. He rubs the back of his neck and fills the glass again.
I wait till he finishes and after ages he finally stops drinking and there, he sits, his head on the table. Running my hand through my hair I move my sight to the four empty bottles, he is drunk.
A sigh of relief leaves my lips when the taxi I hailed stops by the pavement. I help Mr. Mintz in and get in along with him as he is not in a state of going alone. I pass his business card to the driver and I sit back beside him, his words repeat in my head... He must have freaked out when he knew the truth.
###
Finally I find the keys in Mr Mintz’s bag. I unlock the door of his office and look down to my right where I placed him seated on the ground. He stays unmovable staring at his open office door. I clap my hands to encourage myself to carry him in. I grunt already exhausted as I dragged him with me from the road to the end of the lane, and the staircase.
 I help him on his feet, moving his arm around my neck I hold him tight by his waist and we walk in. My eyes look around as I examine every corner of his office, the room is not modified and it seems like a regular space. I put Mr. Mintz on the sofa and I stand straight breaking my knuckles.
This person is completely the opposite to his son, everything in his office is organized and kept clean and meat where on the other hand Riley, huh, he is a freak.
My feet stop in its tracks as I notice a bulletin board by the corner of the room. I wander close to it, my eyebrows meet as my fingers trace the words below the familiar photos .
Mr. Mintz is indeed aware of everything?
I stroll around the small room and stop by the rectangular wooden table. I pick the file on top and my fingers flip the papers clipped in the file. My mind recalls the scene a year back about Tony when the paper with his and Sarah’s photos stapled comes to my view. I arrested Tony for rape but later on the case was taken by Eric and he was released few months after the case was called off, the court proved him not guilty. The information and the scene details in this file are accurate from what I thought and believed.
Mr. Mintz has known it all, now I realize he was the lawyer I needed to meet back then but didn’t have the chance to.
I pick another file from the pile and flip through the papers, my mind reads every single word printed on it. All the cases, literally all cases which was closed due false statement is in here, the details of every crime. I never stop going through the files as I needed to know more about everything which I am blind of.
My body shoots straight when a ringtone hits my ears. I walk towards the sofa where Mr. Mintz is asleep and squat to pull out the ringing phone from his pocket.
Harry?
My grip on the phone tightens and I look straight farther where the board is present, even though it's not clear in the distance I’m sure that it's the person who is pinned on the board next to the picture of dad, he had worked in the Aims at the warehouse but resigned when he saw something which he was not supposed to know about. He saw the drug added to the medical liquids in the lab.
I tap on Mr. Mintz but he never budges, to wake him is definitely a difficult task now. I hesitate to answer the call but yet I do.
"They are after me" he pants “Please help me,” his quivering shaky voice makes his words barely audible and unclear "I’m afraid! Please help me.”
"Where are you?' I scurry out "Harry, listen to me," I jump leaving a stair or two "Find some place to hide and tell me where are you now,"
"I’m a little away from your office. By the sea. The fishing area.”.
"Okay! I’ll be there soon, be on line,"
The wet, desolate street rests in silence. The lonely road is lightened with few yellow lamp street lights. The sound of waves and the smell of salt fills in the frosty air. I put the phone on speaker and I run to the north.
My pace fastens as I get closer to the shore, where the fishermen boats are kept. A sigh of relief leaves my lips as I run my hand through my hair when the dry sand brushes over my shoes. I bend low and rest my palms on my knees, panting out of breath. I wipe the sweat on my forehead with the back of my hand and I stand straight. Five men in front of me.