The Faiworth Collection - False Enemies

The journey back the city and my tiny apartment was uneventful but still took over 8 hours. All the while I listened to podcasts or anything random that came to mind, I was trying to piece together the information shared with me but nothing felt like it had a proper place on the board. Stopping at the gas station I got something to eat and filled my car, I looked around and noticed that there was a car that was parked at the convenience store. It looked familiar but could not put my finger on from where, I tried to take my time to see if I could catch the driver but had to leave when my boss called. I was due to the office the next day and he was just checking up on me, I told him I was heading back and would be in the office. As I drove away from the station I tried to see if I could catch the driver but still no luck, I drove down the highway I kept one eye on the rear view to see it was behind me. I was guessing the paranoia was getting to me and decided to focus on the road, I tuned to a local radio station and listened to the presenter chatter about their day and soon it became background noise to help me focus on the road.

I got back to my apartment, the city was still in the middle of winter but it felt good to be back. I checked my refrigerator and other things and went to bed early. I woke up later that night as it felt like there was something wrong, I checked the window that looked down to the street and there was nothing. The street was usually empty at this time of the night and tonight was no different apart from the occasional walker. I checked my apartment and front door in case I forgot to lock it and it all checked out. I could not get the feeling out of my head so I walked around a bit more, checking the windows and other things till I gave up and went back to bed.

In the morning I did another round to see if there was anything out of place and when satisfied, took a shower and got ready to go back to work. I had a cup of coffee and while I was sitting on my tiny table looking out the window I noticed a slip of paper sticking out the bottom of the sill. It was sticking out just enough to be noticed but not enough to be seen casually, I pried it from where it was and saw it was folded in two. I opened it and the message on it sent shivers down my spine. It read “I saw you, consider this the only warning.” I set it down and then realised why I woke up last night, someone was either in my apartment or outside in the fire escape.

I then cleaned up and left for work, I took the slip of paper with me to check it properly later. The subway ride to work was the usual with people not wanting to be there and those that wished it was over with. The jostling and anticipation of some drugged out person to do something bad felt like floating electricity in the air, I stood closer to the door and kept my head down. The office felt familiar and safe when I entered and I saw my boss walking around as per his usual to confirm progress on articles. He waved me over to him and joined him, the usual necessities were done first and then I was handed my story to follow up on.

I accepted the story which was on an upcoming open ice skating competition, I had covered this for 2 years already so knew who to call and where to get me information. I got to it and my day progressed as it usually did, it was at about 3 that I was called to his office. Nothing unusual there but this time there was a lady sitting across his desk, she looked older than me and wore a winter coat. Her dressing was plain but I could spy a golden necklace, her face was pretty once but the years had chipped away the youth on her face to leave behind a sharp face that could cut steel. Her eyes were grey and they bore me down when I entered the office, nodding my greetings she did not reply instead she looked me up & down and turned back to my boss. “Mrs. Shraffer is from upper management, they were informed that you were investigating something that they are interested in.”

I turned to the lady, Mrs Shraffer who smiled at her name and then she looked at me. “A source of a investigative report done by our other paper came across your name in a forum that she frequents and saw that you were looking into a cult ritual that raised some interest in the team there. Care to share any findings you might have found as it seems that a hornet’s nest was released when it came to light that someone else dug a little too deep killing the forum.”

I realised she was talking about Sam, I kept my expression plain and spoke in an even tone “I found red herrings honestly, the information I did find led me the usual Skull and Bones type of elitist societies. This one died in the early 50’s so all I could get were dead trails and I decided to drop the investigation. The cult like activities were more closer related to upper class orgies back in the day so it felt more run of the mill tabloid scandal stuff that would yield in lawsuits than interests.”

She pursed her lips and I could feel the eyes boring into my skull, I remained standing and waited for a reply. My boss cleared his throat and asked if I could maybe share any information with Mrs. Shraffer’s team as there might be something I missed that could help them. I nodded and asked if I could bring the copies from my desk, she nodded and left the office and walked to my desk. At my desk I opened the bottom drawer that contained copies of the newspaper articles and other notes I had taken when I started looking into this, none of them had the depth of information I was given by Sam. Pauline who was my neighbour gave me a concerned look as I got up, I smiled to her and told her that I would explain later. She nodded and got back to her work, I then walked to the office and handed the papers to Shraffer who then looked through them with some interest. Shraffer then turned to by boss and let him know she will be in touch and got up leaving the both of us bewildered.

“I guess all the information you dug up and your story just left. Sorry kid, she is from very high up and when they see something they can dig their nails in they really dig in.”

I nodded and told him that I had dropped the investigation anyway as it was leading me round in circles and sleepless nights any way. We then spoke a little more on what happened while was away and the progress of my story. I left after 20 minutes and found that a reported I had never seen before standing near my desk, Pauline was doing her best to look busy as I approached him. He was not much older to me but I could see he was intently looking at my desk, I asked him if I could help him and he perked up and then turned to me. “Apologies, Roger is it? Well I am here on instructions from Shraffer on regards to a story you are or were working on. I was asked to check your system to see if there was any information you might have forgotten to share with our boss.”

I took a step back and looked at him, he saw the shock on my face and smiled at me mockingly. Without missing a beat he plugged a USB drive into my computer and asked me to log in, I stood for a moment and looked back my boss’s office and he seemed to have noticed and decided to walk over. I waited for him to join us and he looked at the man and then to me, “what is going on here?”

The man then turned to him and handed his corporate ID card and then turned to me, “your login please.” He spoke with an edge, I then logged in and in that instant I could see he was looking for something. My boss waited for him to finish as did I. The look of frustration on the man’s face was evident, he then turned to me again and asked if I have my personal laptop with me. I shook my head and just as he was about to speak my boss cut in, “what he does in his personal system is his problem, you got what you wanted or lack there of so if you are done then please leave and let the real reporters work.”

The man stood up and got up to my face and spoke, “I will be watching you.” Expecting a reaction I could see he was disappointed as I just looked at him with dead eyes. I was not in the mood to engage with a playground bully so I acted like he did not exist and looked past him, he turned to my boss and took his ID and was about to walk away when I informed him that he forgot his doodad. He turned to me then walked back to and yanked it out with force then proceeded to huff away.

Mr. Richards, or Speck, looked at the retreating figure with mild bemusement. He turned to me and asked me to join him for a smoke, he knew I did not smoke but I accepted as I knew the office was full of ears. Pauline may be my neighbour, she was sort of the office snitch for the upper office that had all the high profile reporters. I was made to sit next to her as my stories were the least important, I was trying to remember if I had spoke to her about the Muzhurod or not but could not remember at all. As we stepped out into the cold, Speck handed me a cigarette and before I could protest he told me not to inhale and act like I was smoking.

“Looks like whatever you are looking into is creating a storm upstairs, listen Roger whatever you found make sure it is saved in a secure location, those bastards will find a way to access your computer at home also.” I nodded will taking puffs of the smoke and exhaling, he had never done this with me but from the look I could see he was scared. I realised what Sam was talking about, whoever was hiding behind the Faiworth Collection did not want to be found. “Why are you telling me this, we both work for them right?”

Speck smiled mirthlessly, “yeah we do, but I have seen them gut my little department multiple times when it feels like their profits are not as high as they want. The upper departments get more staff while our little team gets smaller. I will be fired soon from what a friend of mine is telling me, I bet you and a few others will follow me to the door soon so you be careful and make sure to secure all information.”

I was stunned by this statement, out publisher wasn’t exactly the biggest in the news scene but their were local and also held a high distinction when it came to reliable source of news. My column, of sorts, has brought in advertising revenue which is why I had been left to my devices. Whatever is now happening may just create problems they will blame others for, I went back to my desk and Pauline turned to ask me what was happening. I told her that advertisements from the people I work with are lower than the last half and also a rumour that I was on a story that they are now interested in. She looked at me curiously then prodded on the story and I gave an outline of what the rough story was and how I just kept hitting dead ends till I gave up. She seemed satisfied then looked at the time, it was 5 and time to clock out. She left on time and I knew her lift went up and not down, so feeding her a consistent story made sure no one looked at me again.

Jacob, another reporter who worked in the same floor, walked over and asked what happened today and l looked at him with mild agitation but repeated the same story and started wrapping up my desk. The phone rang as I was about to leave, I picked up and the voice on the other side was of a lady I had never met before, she told me that the Mrs. Shraffer would like to see me before I left on the 12^th floor. I accepted and dropped the phone, looking at Speck’s office I could see he was also busy wrapping up. I walked over and knocked the window, he looked up and I gave him a thumbs up but moved it up slightly that send the desired message, replied with his own thumbs up and I was off. There were roughly 25 people in the office and most were either wrapping up also or still finalising their pieces, I waved my goodbyes to a few that I usually work with and made my way to the elevator.

The ride to the floor was a little unnerving as I had only been up to the 12^th twice before, once for my initial interview and the second for my employment confirmation. It was a maze of offices that the higher ups liked, no windows nor directions as to where the offices you need to go are. I was told by a colleague that it was deliberately so because back in the 60’s there were people who would try and kill the owners of newspapers who lied about the Vietnam war. I walked into the floor to a reception where 2 people sat, a man and woman, the man looked up at me and let me know Shraffer was waiting for me in the conference room and asked if I knew where it was. I told him I didn’t and he got up and asked to follow him. After passing more that 3 corners and multiple doors we came to a 2 door entrance that did not show that it was a conference room, he grabbed one of the handles and swung the door in allowing me entrance. I walked in and he closed the door behind me, inside was a long and wide table with many executive chairs, the walls were plain but painted in the light forest green tone that made the room feel even larger. Rather than feeling claustrophobic this place felt like it was 3 times larger than it actually was, there no one inside so I decided to wait standing. No paintings or anything on the walls, no display or phones on the table, it looked like this was made to be as plain as possible. I looked at my watch and it was closer to 7, I wanted to get home and get something to eat but this really made me irritated. Finaly a door at the opposite side of the room opened and Shraffer entered with another lady, the lady was smaller in size and hell a folder and laptop in tow. They both sat down on the chairs closer to the door and I was asked to sit across them.

“Your research was further along than what my team found, I wanted to ask how you found this story?”

No introductions or anything just straight to the point, I looked at both and then recounted on how a friend who was a conspiracy nut asked me to look into the ritual story as he came about it while reading some old articles on the mafia. I pointed them to the article and the other lady, who I would later learn to be as Lu, pulled it out and showed it to Shraffer. She glanced at it and then back to me, “I see, well from all that you found someone from the team indicated that it is not complete and there is more that is missing. Are you sure there is nothing you are holding out on us?”

I looked at the both the ladies and sat back, “why are you trying to take this from me?”

Shraffer smiled and said that we are part of the same family and that if I had hit a wall in the story there were people within the company who could help me clear the path but I needed to share. I asked how I was now part of this when all my research was in their hands. Something in her eyes shifted and she leaned forward, “you were hired to write about dumber things of society, this story is above your pay grade so I suggest you stick to your lane Mr. Roger and let the more experienced do their jobs. The forum where your post was found was traced back to your computer at work so you could have compromised this company to a network attack or something.”

I was stunned by this; the forum she was referring to be an internet forum for conspiracy nuts that I frequented when I needed a break and the post, she was pinpointing to was just a random thread I made to see how far it would go with the community. The deeper investigation I did at home because I knew that every stroke of the keyboard was logged by upper management for ‘our security’. I then told her that it was just to find more information and the site is used by many other reporters for the same information, how was mine so different. She did not answer but instead told me to surrender all the information I had, I picked up my bag and pushed it over to her, Lu got and rummaged through it finding only my notebook and a few brochures for the column story I was writing. She leafed through my notebook and found an entry on the ritual which she promptly tore out and then shoved everything back into the bag and pushed across. I remained calm through this because inside I was laughing, this wannabe thought she could get everything I had.

Lu then pushed a slip of paper across the table, I caught it and read the contents. I was fired from the company. I read it twice and then looked up at a smiling Shraffer, “you can reverse then if you share what you found.” I put the letter down and placed both my palms on the table, I looked up her and spoke. “You have everything, why are you firing me?”

“Because I want my team to work together and not for themselves, I was informed that you took time from your work hours to visit the library and other places to find this info. You should have informed the team of this find and maybe you could have been part of the story.”

I got up, took the letter and then as I was about to leave she called out to me, “there is still time before the letter is valid. You can do the right thing and give us the information.”

I stopped and turned to her, I gave her a look of total confusion and repeated my earlier statement that they have everything. I then left, the lift I found Speck waiting also, he looked tired and I showed him the letter and he did not look surprised. “I will be getting one also, I suppose Pauline will enjoy her new office.”

He was informed that Shraffer was waiting and he left me, I pressed the down button for the elevator and waited for it. An older man joined me in waiting, I shifted a little and we both stood before the only elevator on this floor. As it arrived and the doors opened I stood to one side and let the older gentleman to walk in, he obliged and walked in and I followed to stand next to him. I press for the Ground Floor while he asked to be dropped off at the lower basement, I guessed that he was Shraffer’s boss.

“Locklear was just a handler you know, Shraffer’s team are looking for cigar smoke. I had a look at what you found and I must confess you were on the correct path Roger. So I have an offer if you will hear me out.”

I turned to him and he gave a small smile, he looked older than my father and wore an expensive looking suit. His face was lined with age but his dark eyes held a twinkle that reminded me of the mall santas, “forgive me but who are you?”

He laughed at the question and introduced himself, “I am Mr. Walter Isaacs, I started out here as junior reporter and rose to become a partner. I will not hold it against you for no know me but honestly you must have heard about me? No, well suffice to say I am the thin line on the sand between fact and fiction here. The Muzhurod ritual you were looking into was also my investigation earlier in my career but it fell through as back then information was easier to hide than today.”

The elevator stopped at the ground floor and I was about to leave but he held my elbow and asked me to hear him out and if I was not convinced then I can leave. I relented and since it was now 8 in the evening I was more tired then angry at the events of my first day. I stood back as the doors to the elevator closed and I hoped that the doors did not close on me for the last time.

“Shraffer is a bulldozer and her team a wildfire if you catch my drift. The were asked to look into the whole affair after a partner got wind that they might be involved in a few financial deals that are bleeding our country. I was informed of this by a reporter working on the same floor and decided to keep my ear close and saw that they were running up walls and empty campfires, it was then a whisper came to my ear about you. I decided to check on your investigation and asked Speck, I guess my speaking to Speck may have led to your exposure in this matter.”

I stood there waiting for more as the lower floor was reached and the doors opened, Isaacs walked out and I stood, he turned and then spoke. “Speck will not lose his job, he was called to keep an eye on you by Shraffer and the letter she gave you is invalid as it is signed by her and not by the partners so consider it a warning. Please join me in my car where I can speak freely.”

Considering that I had no other, better, choice I followed him to his car which turned out to be an old Chevy Caprice. An odd choice for someone so high up in the company, he opened the driver’s door and indicated to take the passenger seat. I complied and we drove out of the garage, the car smelt of pine and old cigar smoke. I looked at the cars that were parked in the lower side and could see the usual high value Cadillacs and Marcedes. I really did not care for those types of cars and my Jimny was my pride and my dad’s bane. He would try and sell me the great American cars and I would tell him that my little bug can go every where his Ford pick up can and more, then it would turn into a bloodbath of whose car and do what. I smiled at this but kept my face turned away from Isaacs, “so I was saying. What you are looking for is the Faiworth Collection, not exactly a collection but more of a gathering of old families that have deep roots in the European countries. What I could never figure out is what their exact deal was, they are not as powerful as you would think but for some reason they are really hard to find.”

I turned to him in shock and could see he was smiling, “surprised? Well let me tell you, I came across that name before and I have a bullet wound that was the result. I found out that they were descendants of a small kingdom on an Island located north of Russia. Ever heard of Hastur? No? well neither have I but it seems they are protecting something here and there also. I was shot in the leg by someone when I found a gathering place near Boston in ’82 I think which forced me to drop the investigation completely.”

I was looking at the road and could see he was heading for where I lived, “look Roger, I am not asking for what you found but rather asking you to dive deeper and see what you can dig up. Don’t report to me, I will give you a name and number so you are also protected but never talk to anyone over the phone mentioning the name.”

“I know, I was forced to wipe my computer when I did so what I found could easily be a trap” I lied.

He did not speak for a few moments, I kept my eyes on the streets we were passing. “I see, well I can compensate you for the time and resources you will need. Let me be honest with you, they are powerful but in a more subtle way. They use cloak and daggers to conduct business, and it seems that what is their end goal I have no idea. If you can tell me what it is maybe I can find someone who is not connected to them to do something about it. What do you say?”

I wanted to agree but held back and told him that I needed to think about it. We came to my apartment building and he parked the car, the diner that I usually eat from was still open and my stomach growled at the memory of food. Isaacs then handed me an envelope, “consider this a thank you note for hearing me out. I am not like the rest, I fought for every scrap that I have and know what it means to find a story like this. You will find that then number of allies you have are shrinking so you need to be careful now.”

I nodded and took the envelope, inside was a thousand dollars in 20’s. I got out and let him know I will call and made my way to the diner.