Velvet Ties

Chapter 1: Velvet Suits

Chapter 1

Velvet Suits

Damien Manne

“Hey Damien,you know how Mark says that he wants us to be prompt for the party? Well I don’t think he wants us to go a hundred on the freeway.”

“Well I don’t like to be late for most things as you know, John, but we are actually 20 minutes late,” I replied.

I could see the panic in John’s face as I sped through and around traffic as we headed downtown. The engine roared as I stepped on the pedal and whizzed around trucks, vans with families, and the occasional motorcycle. John and I left work, Globalvyne about an hour ago, and had about a few minutes to go and stop at a grocery store to grab a bottle of wine and hit the highway. Eyes were boggled as they saw an orange 2018 Lamborghini with chrome rims and red beams, pull up to front of a regular grocery store.

As we approached the tunnel, I clicked a button on the radio to open up the contact list on the mini screen.

“Good evening Mr. Manne, how may I help you today?”

“Hello S.e.t.s, contact Mark Livingston, for me please,” I said out loud in the car.

“S.e.t.s?” John asked.

“Sound enhanced technical support, I designed it as where I can get help anywhere in the world. I also have it on my watch.”

A voice picked up instantly with music playing in the background. Mark was a company executive by day, but party animal by night. He was a heavy drinker, knowing over 100 different combinations with tequila alone. Mark stayed in the outskirts of town in a private mansion. He was married for about a year, until he realized that his love for women were outweighed by his love for money and partying. He quickly settled for a divorce, and his wife had taken about half of the settlements and moved across the country. A year later, he was caught in a scandalous lawsuit against a hotel and sued them for mistreatment of their guests and had gotten a 2 million dollar settlement. Employed by Globalvyne, he scouts for new potential intel scouts to provide information on rival companies. The company uses them as pawns, and just drops them in about a year. Poor guy, he doesn’t even realize he’s a pawn himself.

“Damien,where the hell are you? I have a Dj here and hot wormmen all around~HICCUP~ Man, get over here!”

The poor bastard been drinking already. I figured that 3 hours out, he would be hammered, but 30 minutes? That has got to be a new record.

“Yeah Mark, I have John right here with me, and we’ll be there in about 5 minutes,” I replied.

“Hey, tell John that he needs to bring his sorry, canty ass over here and LIMBO!! Hey Damienn, I’ll call you back in a second buddy. Peace, assholes!!”

“Connection disconnected.” S.e.t.s announced in the car.

“Sounds like hes started the party long before anybody got there.”

“Yeah, it looks like its been a rough year for him.I hear that upstairs was finally gonna cut him off next week.”

“No kidding? Well, I guess its has been long overdue, he has been here since last Christmas.The numbers aren’t getting any higher anyway, so maybe its a good thing. Oh well,too bad he wasn't gonna last that long anyway.”

 

We drove around the mountainside for a few miles out until the sound and vibrations of pop music could be heard from the distance. We pulled off onto an exit and headed onto a dirt path that lead out towards a mansion sitting out in a distance from the main road. We pulled up to a large metal gate that had a M and L welded into it, in front of the gate, there was an intercom box and a dial pad. I pulled up close to it where I could extend my arm and dialed my phone number into it. After a few seconds, the intercom spoke as it analyzed my number.