“I don’t think she’s going to crack, Will,” Buster’s voice was gravelly as he spoke.
A short and ugly man, Buster was Will’s oldest friend. He stood by Will’s side as they stared at the camera monitor that stood before them.
“I don’t think she will, either,” Will said in disgust.
He pushed away from the table with barely restrained fury, and Buster understood why.
The girl, Max, was their last shot to get to Variable. If they blew this, they could kiss this investigation goodbye.
“What was the plan, again?” Buster asked.
Will looked at Buster, and was unamused.
“I don’t know. I didn’t exactly plan all of this out,” he said as he rubbed his face.
Buster chuckled.
“Kendall is going to love that. ‘Sorry, sir. We blew the operation because I didn’t exactly plan all of this out’. I hope you have your funeral clothes picked out,” Buster said.
Will ignored the ugly old man and instead looked at the screen of the monitor.
“She’s completely unshaken. She just doesn’t give a shit,” Buster said with quiet admiration.
“Calm down, Buster. You’re drooling all over the equipment,” Will murmured.
Max rubbed her hands over her face for a moment, then spread out on the bed, hands linked together over her stomach, her face frozen in an inscrutable mask.
“What makes you think that you can get her to cross over?” Buster asked.
They were alone, the two of them, in Buster’s office. It wasn’t big, but it wasn’t as small as many of them were in their headquarters, so Buster was happy with it. It was messy; the desk was littered with coffee cups and papers that he had yet to deal with.
“She hates Variable. That much is obvious,” Will said with certainty.
Buster scoffed.
“If she hates him so much, why doesn’t she quit? From what these say,” Buster gestured to a stack of papers on his desk, “She makes him at least twenty grand at each event that she performs at. If she hates him, why does she work for him?”
“She has a twelve year old sister and a mother to care for. I think she’s only in it for the money,” Will said as he watched the monitor once more.
Buster thought about it.
“And what makes you think that she’s the key to getting to Variable?” he asked.
Will rubbed a weary hand over his face. He pulled a chair up to Buster’s desk and flipped it around. He sat down as he spoke.
“With every single fighter he has ever employed, Variable has been careful. He doesn’t let them know his name, or get into his office. They can’t argue; it’s like he is the all-powerful lord of them. With Max, it’s different. When I went to the event, she said something to Variable. Drove him nuts. Variable isn’t the type to let that happen. I think that Max has something on him, just like he has something over her,” Will said.
Buster looked at him incredulously.
“You’re basing all of this on a hunch?” he asked in shock.
Will nodded, his eyes still fixed on the screen.
“And if she doesn’t fold?” Buster asked.
“She won’t fold anytime soon. But if we bring her family into it, she’ll do anything for them,” he said with certainty.
Buster looked at him with shock.
“Since when are you a heartless bastard?” he asked.
Will tapped a button a remote, and instead of Max laying on her bed, his video of her fight at the event showed up.
Buster sucked in a pained breath as Max’s kick landed on her opponent’s back.
They watched from then to Max tightening her arm, bring her opponent to her knees.
“She … is amazing,” Buster said honestly as he rose from his spot at the desk.
He stood in front of the monitor and played the clip again.
“She’s a psychopath. Look at her face, as the announcer holds her hand up. She lets him for a few seconds, then pulls away. He glares at her, and she fixes him with a thousand-yard stare. He blanches, she nods, as if she thinks of it as a win,” Will’s voice was unbelieving as they watched.
“If you think she’s a psychopath, how do you expect to use the family card?” Buster asked.
Will groaned in frustration.
“I don’t know. She has this entire operation tripped up. All I know is that she is the key to all of this. And I intend to use that key, whether you like it or not.”
