Standing just a few feet away was the man I despised more than anyone. He had used a situation to control and manipulate me into doing grotesque acts no normal man would ever think of doing. I had been under the assumption the entire time that he had video footage from his own camera; one hidden well out of sight in the hopes of catching someone taking from the Brothers till. I assumed that he was nothing more than a heartless janitor in a pair of ratty coveralls who found a convenient means of making some extra money. But Brady turned out to be so much more.
"You're head of security?" I choked out.
"Are you really that surprised? You really are that damn airheaded, aren't you?" He said with a smile and a shake of his head.
"You did try to tell us," Eddie said to Brady.
"What can I say? I'm a good judge of character."
"I thought the company has a security team," I interjected.
I was sure I wasn't mistaken about that. There were usually security teams on the main floor to guard against anyone getting to the upper floors without authorization. I also knew that they patrolled the building as I'd seen one or two during my weeks lodging in my car.
"Of course we do. We're no different than other companies who have their property guarded at the door and around its perimeter," Eugene responded. "There are always potential threats that a security team will have to guard against. Those, for the most part however, are more 'outside' threats than anything. Mr. Brady has more of an 'inside' security position."
"What that simply means is that it's my job to find the sneaky, little thieves who try to take from the Brothers and their company," Brady clarified.
"But you're just a janitor," I said, still in disbelief.
"Exactly!" Eddie said. "Who would think that the guy mopping the floor and scrubbing the toilet would be the one watching your every move?"
It actually made perfect sense. Brady wasn't just trying to get lucky in getting footage of someone stealing. He was doing a job, a secret one, that our employers had charged him with. Was I really that airheaded?
"My job is to keep an eye on all personnel; especially new employees with access to highly lucrative items."
"Like cash in a safe?" I said in a dumbfounded voice.
"Exactly; like cash in a safe," Eddie said.
"Just as I'm sure you're aware, my brother and I actually do a fair amount of business dealings out of state and overseas," Eugene said. "The two of us simply can't keep an eye on everything. That's where Mr. Brady has come in and he's done a fine job too at sniffing out those who have tried to take from us."
Eugene didn't have to say it. How many Brady had actually caught and thrown to the wolves was a mystery, but I could think of two immediately.
"Clint and Daniel?"
"Very good," Eugene cooed.
"Those two were your predecessors. This job that you held was one of our most trustworthy positions. So, it should be easy to understand that we needed to make sure that the person holding it would not do us wrong."
Besides the pictures in my basement room to remind me everyday, I remembered the stories that Brady told the first time I met him face to face; well, with the steel bars of my cage between us. They too had taken from the Brothers, in one form or another. Seeing the Brothers in person, I got a sense of just how serious and threatening they could be.
"Those two were a lot like you in ways. They were good with numbers and dependable in doing the job," Eddie said.
"The one thing we had to test though was their honesty and loyalty," Eugene added.
They went on to divulge a horrible truth; one that connected the three of us together in a manner. The Brothers needed to make sure, beyond a doubt, that one of their most trusted employees would stay as such. While most people have small struggles that they deal with day to day, not everyone has huge financial decisions that would hold their life in the balance. The Brothers took matters into their own hands to make sure that happened.
"Take Daniel," Eddie said. "He was bright and charming, but he never had a knack for the stock market. Yet, that didn't stop him from investing large amounts in hopes of a big payday. Too bad that inside trader tip didn't pan out for him. He too found himself in a peck of trouble."
"And Clint," Eugene added, "Wasn't any better. His free time was spent hitting the casino tables. It was easy to see he thought he was a high-roller. Wouldn't you just know that he was egged into a game of high-risk poker. The cards just didn't fall in his favor."
"Then there's you." It wasn't one of the Brothers, but rather Brady. "You were good at crunching numbers but not at understanding odds. How did that sure-fire tip pan out on that big wager you made?"
The way Brady talked, the way the Brothers looked at me, the similarities between the other two and myself, I was quickly beginning to paint a picture. These were not simply coincidences. There couldn't have been that much bad luck between the three of us.
"You guys planned this. All of this!"
Both the Brothers cracked a smile. Brady stood there with that smirk of his while giving a gentle clap with his hands.
"After a thorough background check was done along with having each of you watched for any sign of unusual or dangers habits, It didn't take long to see a weakness in each of you. One that may potentially come back to bite us," Eugene said.
"So you what? You tricked us into some trap?"
"We did little more than guide each of you," Eugene said. "We simply created an environment that played towards those habits."
