Post by Immanuel Taylor on Sept 16, 2011 19:34:40 GMT -5
“So he showed an interest in obtaining my personal registrar?”
“Well, sir, he described it as a general interest.”
“General interest, my wrinkly ass” Mark Rivera blurted out before taking a sip from his Vanille Francais coffee. “And when he left, did you notice that your blackberry was gone?”
“Um…no, sir. It was about an hour later when your meeting with the creative director came to an end and you instructed me to book another appointment with him. I turned to get my blackberry and that was when I noticed it was gone.”
There are three individuals in this scenery. Mark Rivera, owner of the EUW-Asylum wrestling corporation, Mark Rivera’s secretary, and finally Vitali Khodorkovsky, the man whom Chad Kennedy had hired to investigate Immanuel Taylor. Rivera chose to continue the operation when he usurped control of the EUW corporation.
It’s the afternoon after the show with all three men in Rivera’s suite at the Hotel Ukraina, now known as the Radisson Royal Hotel. Rivera’s male secretary and travel companion had alerted Mr. Rivera immediately after the show and Mark Rivera instructed him to come to his suite the next day at 3 PM.
“Not one fucking milli-second late, understand, boy?” Rivera yelled at Samuel, the male secretary, upon leaving the arena. Rivera woke up at 8 AM in his gigantic King-sized bed and, after a shower, shave and heavy breakfast, called Vitali Khodorkovsky. All three men are now seated in the living room of the suite. Vitali was a cup of coffee in his hand and Vitali has a local-made beverage in his respective hand. Samuel doesn’t have anything to drink and that is on purpose.
“You know” Rivera said, breaking the silence. “I tried getting one of them blackberries once. Boggled my bloody mind. I mean, how technical and complicated does a phone have to be in order for it to be considered hip?”
“Do you have a password on the device?” Vitali spoke for the first time.
“Yes” Samuel said with reassurance. “He won’t be able to access any files on there”
“And all files pertaining to my registrar are on there?” Rivera spoke up.
“Yes, I always keep a copy on the blackberry. The original is stored in the EUW-Asylum database and can only be accessed by you”
“How many copied files are on your blueberry?” Vitali said, his turn in the interrogation. Rivera chuckled a bit and Vitali turned to him.
“Blackberry, Vitali. It’s a Blackberry, not a blueberry”
Vitali, emotionless, turned to the boy who, as if taking his cue from Vitali’s concentrated gaze, proceeded to answer his question.
“Umm….I believe over six hundred files, sir. I think there was a….”
“And is my name visible on any of these files?”
“Mr. Rivera instructed me to abbreviate you. I categorized your meeting times and locations as V.K.”
“Ok” Rivera placed his cup on the glass table as Samuel, the boy, finished answering Vitali’s question. “You can leave now, boy. I’ll deal with you later”
Samuel got up and, purposefully avoiding eye contact, made his way from the central living room and to the front door where one of the four guards in the background opened the door for him. As soon as the guard closed the door, Rivera grabbed the remote and turned on the large flat-screen Plasma embedded on the mosaic wall. CNN was the chosen channel.
“So, you think Immanuel Taylor is on to you?”
“I don’t see why he would be” Vitali is wearing a suit he just bought from his favorite store yesterday night. “He didn’t spot me back in the Mission District. And I haven’t seen him ever since. Maybe….maybe you said something to him that tipped him off?”
Rivera remained silent for a moment. Vitali turned his head to look at him.
“Well…I did taunt him. Look, I can’t stand that asshole. Ok? I mean, the guy just irritates me so when he’s in my office, I can’t help myself from taking a cheap shot or two. Last time he was in my office, I believe he was with Tyreke Bell, I kind of hinted that I know his past is bullshit.”
Rivera did not need to wait for Vitali to react in order to realize the mistake he had performed on that day. He raised his hands.
“Yes, yes, yes. I know. I know. It was a dumb, reactionary move but you honestly don’t know how irritating that insect is. Trying to decode the human genetic code would be a walk in the park compared to having a linear conversation with Immanuel Taylor.”
“What did you say to him specifically, Mr. Rivera? Specifically. Word by word. Tell me everything”
“I called him out on the hospital he listed in his application. You know, the one where he was supposed to be born in. Told him I made a little phone call and that the hospital staff didn’t have any hospital records. Then…um…oh yeah, I told him that he’s not untouchable.”
“What?”
“Untouchable, Vitali. Untouchable. The guy walks around thinking he has a shield around him, explains why he’s so socially crippled, and I pointed out to him that he is not untouchable. Get it? Or should I have the boy come back and draw you a fucking picture?”
Mr. Rivera’s apprehensiveness came as a response to Vitali’s apprehensiveness. Nobody talks to Mr. Rivera the way Vitali did, in such an authoritative and demanding manner, and Mark Rivera had quickly to reassert the fact that he, Mark Rivera, is the boss here. Vitali, cool and rational, backed off and straightened his tie. He took a drink from his local beverage and set it down on the coffee table.
“Here’s what I think we should do, Mr. Rivera.” Vitali said. “Since Immanuel is already suspicious, he’ll be on high alert. There is a good chance he might know that you hired someone but I doubt he can finger me. So he’ll be on the lookout for anyone following him. I spotted him in the Mission District that night but I lost him. Can you get his address?”
“He didn’t put one on his contact information. Since we travel a lot, broadcasting from different countries, many wrestlers and executives from the company have places all over the world. I’ll change that though. Tomorrow morning, I’ll phone the headquarters and have them require ever active EUW-Asylum wrestler to list his current residence. Though, how’s that going to help? Isn’t he keeping an eye out for any stalkers?”
“He is, which is why I’m going to double down on his paper trail. I’ll dig deeper into the Yugoslavia connection. And I’ll make sure not to bump into him. Just to be sure.”
“I have a friend who works at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Helped him get a start in the financial sector a long time ago. He owes me. I can get him to pull a couple of files for you, demographics and stuff of Eastern Europe.”
“Good. Very good” Rivera said while rubbing his chin, emitting a dictatorial tone. Vitali got up, taking advantage of his agreement with Rivera to put an end to the meeting.
“I will get to work. When should we schedule another meeting?”
“I’ll have to my underlings alert you of the next meeting” Rivera motioned to one of his security guards to open the door. “And I want something solid, Vitali. Really solid. Got it?”
“Yes” Vitali said, without putting in the “Mr. Rivera”. Vitali is fully aware of Rivera’s rage him for getting in his face earlier. He got up to leave, marching towards the opened front door, marching past the expensive furniture of the Hotel Ukraina , when Rivera suddenly cleared his throat very audibly.
“Vitali, before you go…” Rivera paused as Vitali did the same in his movements. He begrudgingly turned around and eyed Mark Rivera, owner of the EUW-Asylum mammoth and overseer of everything in his realm. Rivera stood straight, his old figure overshadowed by his extraordinarily significant job position.
“Yes?”
“Since we’re already in agreement about solid information, I just wanted to ask you whether I should be worried about anything regarding you.”
“Me?” Vitali’s attention is now completely alert.
“Yes….you know, since we’re already investigating Immanuel’s past, I was wondering whether I should be alarmed about anything in…your past”
“It’s all in my CV folder I sent you, sir.”
“And all Immanuel Taylor’s information is on his CV, too. But look at what you were able to find out about him. A lot of dirt under the fingernails there, hmm? So if I sent someone to investigate your past, or maybe I already did, I wonder how many pounds of dirt I’ll find, Vitali.”
“I have nothing to hide, Mr. Rivera” Vitali said, lying in his manufactured expertise way. He eyed Rivera in a calm manner. “And what about you, Mr. Rivera? If I decided to dig a little for myself, in my free time of course, would I find some dirt?”
Vitali noticed the guards moving in closer to him. There were two to his back, ready to grab his arm if Rivera so much as winks.
“The question is, Vitali, have you already dug a little? Or are you just clinging on to that shovel?”
“I have nothing to hide” Vitali insisted with a tough voice and Rivera immediately recalled Immanuel Taylor saying the exact same thing in his office. Rivera smiled, in a warm way. The guards have still not done anything. One of them felt for his gun, just in case.
“I guess we’ll just leave it at there, Vitali. Enjoy your flight back to San Francisco”
Vitali turned around and, brushing aside the two armed guards, made his way out of the suite and purposefully neglected to shut the door behind him. He turned around once reaching the elevator and noticed Rivera is still watching him, standing firm with his snake eyes. Vitali got into the elevator once it reached the top floor and clicked on the ground floor. The doors quickly closed but the door to Rivera's suite, the one Vitali left purposefully open, stayed open. It was not until Rivera's next guest, a Russian, that Rivera made him close the door on his way in.
