Draft version - Russian Roulette - Family secrets

Ch. 124: No! It's mine

"Are you sure this will work?" Gareth grumbled while rubbing his ass cheek and sat down in a comfy chair.
"When have I ever let you down?" Horse pointed at a screen on his desk. "It's right there."
"I know, I know."

With a snort and a toss of his golden locks Horse opened a beer and handed it to Gareth. He opened one himself and sat back in his chair at his control panel of a desk.

The information hub of Gareth's organization.

The grand studio apartment where Horse lived was one giant tech palace. He had flatscreens and computer screens all over the place. Tech stuff was scattered throughout the room, some looked like science projects.

His desk was enormous with 6 keyboards hooked up to what Gareth believed was the mother of all computers, all built by Horse to cater to his needs. The desk alone held 8 big computer screens displaying all sorts of different information. Some of which were disturbing to say the least with the display of young women in practically nothing being sold on the dark web.

Gareth did not even pretend to know how Horse kept track of all he did, but seeing how many screens he had displaying stuff, he knew Horse was on top of everything.

There was a constant plinging from the speakers and small flashing notices appeared on the different screens. Horse's long fingers moved effortlessly over the different keyboards while he checked the alerts he was getting. Nothing seemed to pass his watchful eyes.

It was rather impressive.

When Horse slept was a mystery to Gareth.

"Any news?"
"Sorry, no. I've tried everything." With an almost guilty expression on his handsome face, Horse sighed. "I've hooked up with Cellmate and Firewall. We've set up a connection and are on top of everything. We cover all time zones and have scheduled around the clock hours between us to keep you covered."

He sent Gareth a cheeky grin.

"We do have a life, you know. Not all of us live on cola, pop tarts and porn."

Gareth returned the grin. Horse always knew what he was thinking, and he had to admit, it had crossed his mind that hackers lived like that. Though Horse's place was a tech mess, it was clean and somehow gave the indication of organized chaos.

He had a large bed at the end of the studio and then the small sitting area in the middle where Gareth sat. There was a kitchen, guest room and bathroom too, though to Gareth's knowledge the guestroom was just tech storage. He had a feeling daylight had not graced the room since Horse had moved in, blinds and heavy curtains were covering the windows at all times.

It was the Batcave.

"I need you to do me a favor."
"Sure. What can I do?" Horse's pale blue eyes left the screens for a brief moment to look at Gareth. He was not being impolite or not there, he was aware he had company, his boss of all people. He just had to keep an eye on everything, Gareth knew that and expected it too.

"I need you to set up automatic payments for everything. Salaries, rent, insurances. Everything."
"No problem, how long are we talking?"
"Indefinitely. Until I, Phoenix or Mackenzie says otherwise. I want everything to run smoothly, I don't want Mackenzie to be worried about any of it."

Though Horse nodded and made a mental note to set things in motion, he glanced at Gareth, who as always was the epitome of calm and collected.

"You're not about to do something stupid, are you?"
"I never do anything stupid, I do what's necessary."
"Just asking, boss."
"I know." Gareth sighed overwhelmed with the responsibility on him. "I just need to make sure that everybody who's innocent in all of this mess are taken care of. They should not suffer because I'm in deep shit with Grychenko. I could have been hurt in the attack, if it happens again, I need to know people won't lose their homes and livelihood because of it."