Baby And Me – Episode 3

BABY AND ME Episode 3

 

8 months later…..

The harshness of the world had changed me, I was now a con man, the man I told myself I would never be, the world turning against me after I tried so hard to be a good man, after I did everything in my power to ensure that I didnt become a clichè

Anyway, I took the job with Chace Tatum, he was only a few years older than me and we worked well together, with his charming looks, easy going charismatic personality, his savvy street smart brain and my excellent IT skills, we were able to hack into all kinds of offshore accounts, cleaning out the bastards with the dirty money, the dirty money came from all sorts of things, drugs, illegally imported or exported goods, stealing and robbing from the less fortunate, all we did is take from them and I slept better at night knowing that my job didnt entail me stealing from people who made an honest living but from bad people who made their fortune in unsavoury ways…

I was making money, lots of money and I knew that I wanted to move from Brooklyn, buy myself a new house and live the life I deserved even though the world had turned its back on me. Chace suggested that I upgrade my look because he also wanted me to deal with “our clients” on a personal level, though I was not as smart as him in conning people but I had a special ability to be able to read people just by looking at a few things about them, Chace thought that people wouldnt trust me if I looked like a geek, I had to dress like I mean business, stuff myself into a suit from time to time. Like an older brother to me, he took me for my very first make over, we started at the salon where I got a fresh new haircut

Chace “wow! You’re actually a very good looking young man Jude! See how this new haircut brings out your facial features?” I smiled as I looked at myself in the mirror, he was right…I felt like a completely new person!

Me “whats next?”

Chace “clothes! First impressions are always important because people judge you by your outer appearance first. If you’re dressed well, you have confidence so if you’re dressed well and are confident, people will trust you, they will believe everything that you say. You must always dress appropriately for a job that you want…or in our case, the job that we’re going to do ”

Me “really?”

Chace “yes, I know a few places that sell designer men’s clothes”

Me “what? I cant wear those…what will people say?”

Chace “its time you moved out of that apartment anyway, you need to be in the upper east side”

Me “everyone knows I dont have a job, even if I do, they will get suspicious if I just up and move to Manhattan”

Chace “how long”

Me “what?”

Chace “how long will it take? For you to finally leave the slumps? I hate coming here”

Me “give me a couple of months, I have to tell people I got a job first…then I’ll move”

Chace “good! Lets go”

We left the salon and headed into the direction of the shops, we were Manhattan, we went to the Giorgio Armani store first where I picked up a few suits, at Balmani then Versace. For casual wear we went to Levi, Guess and others…most of the clothes were either formal or semi formal wear.

Chace “good! Now I will introduce you to class”

Me “class?” He smiled

Chace “yes you have to speak the language of the rich, you dont have to just dress like them and look like them but you have to eat like them, talk like them and even think like them”

Me “how do I do that then?”

Chace “I’ll tell you everything you need to know”

Me “I’m ready to learn”

Chace “I love the attitude okay…we’ll start by pretending you’re meeting a potential client at a fancy restuarant. Before any meeting you must find out everything you can about the client, what they like to drink, eat, their interests outside the office and so on”

Me “okay”

Chace “when you have all of that information under your belt, you must keep dropping some of your knowledge to make the client more comfortable so they talk to you and even let something useful slip, you’re a lucky kid because you already have the gift of reading people” I smiled and the lesson continued, Chace and I spent the whole day in Manhattan, where he was teaching me everything I needed to know about the business, well our line of business

He dropped me off at the apartment in his black sleek SUV Bentley

Chace “sleep well, tomorrow we put your knowledge into practice okay?”

Me “okay” he patted me in the shoulder, I retrieved my bags and got out of the car

Kate “wow! Jude…who was that?” Kate was my next door neighbour at the apartment, she was throwing out her trash

Me “my new boss”

Kate “you got a job! Thats amazing!”

Me “I know right! Its at this great company in Manhattan! My boss is great! He’s like an older brother to me”

Kate “I’m happy for you, its been so heartbreaking to see you struggle, such a brilliant mind! Soon you’ll be leaving this place huh?”

Me “of course! Just give me a couple of months and I will be in the upper east side too just like Jason”

Kate “thats great news!” I smiled and nodded then went inside, after telling Kate that I got a new job, I knew the news would spread like venom through one’s body when bitten by a dangerous snake, Kate was sweet and everything but she was also a blabbermouth. I had taken my first step into ensuring that I leave Brooklyn and never go back to that hell!

The next day Chace came to pick me up, just before the lunch rush hour

Me “where are we going?”

Chace “my place, we need to change”

Me “okay” he drove up to his place, a nice big house right by the water

Me “this is your house?”

Chace “yes, you like it?”

Me “its so big! How can you afford this….ya, how long have you been doing this for?” He gave me a sly smile

Chace “lets just say, long enough to provide me with the life I always wanted, you will get here too Jude” I smiled

Me “I cant wait for that day” he drove up to the house and parked in the driveway. We got out of the car and walked to the garage, he opened the door and I was surprised to see a plethora of vehicles, how much did this guy have!

Chace “we’ll be using this one today, we’re going into the DA’s office, he’s been dabbling in some dirty dealings, I need you to hack into his emails and get the info we need to get to the big players”

Me “what are we going in as?”

Chace “we’re going to in to fix the air conditioning vents”

Me “are you serious? Where did you get all these cars? Have you been doing this alone all these years? You cant, its too big a job to carry out alone, you had someone before me didnt you?”

Chace “lets just get the job done and ask questions later” I sighed

Me “okay” we left the garage and walked inside the beautiful house

Chace “you’ll find your change of clothes in that room, on the bed. Change quickly we have to get going”

Me “alright” I walked to the room he showed me, I quickly changed into the workmen’s uniform that was on the bed.

We drove out to the DA’s office where we parked in front of the car. I hacked into their security system and pulled it up to our computers

Chace “thats the guy we’re looking for”

Me “okay”

Chace “I know you’re wondering why we have to go into his office because you can hack anywhere”

Me “actually….” he chuckled

Chace “Greg is smart, so he locked down his account so much that one cant enter into his emails using another computerl, it has to be his. I dont doubt your skills but….”

Me “I understand” we saw them leaving for lunch and that was our cue to move out. We grabbed our tools and made our way to the building. We were checked and signed in by the security with our fake I.D’s that looked very realistic. We made our way into Greg’s office, I quickly went to work on his computer. Chace was right, the guy definitely barred his security well and even though I could do this with my own computer, it was definitely a lot easier with his

Chace “Greg doesnt take the full hour for his lunch so he’ll be back here in 30 minutes” I nodded, working against time to get the job done. 15 minutes later, I was still sweating trying to open the last bar standing between me and that info “what is taking so long?!”

Me “you said it yourself, the guy knows how to hide his shady dealings! He wouldnt make this easy”

Chace “but arent you like a mega genius in this department”

Me “I would be if you stopped talking so much!!”

Chace “fine…just hurry up! We have 10 minutes left!” I worked my fingers as fast as I could, the anticipation of possibly getting caught making me sweat like a pig

Chace “5 minutes!!” By the time he said that, I was already transferring what we needed to the hard drive we brought, it was loading!

Chace “he’s back! He’s back!! Come on!!”he was looking at his tablet

Me “okay! Done!!” I pulled out the hard drive and shut down his computer causing it to reset. I stood up and wore my hat.

As we stepped out of the office, Greg was already in the passage coming to his office, my heart was beating vigorously in my throat. When he passed us, we gave a little bow and so did he. He walked to his office and as we approached the elevators

Greg “excuse me!” We both turned to face him

Chace “is there a problem sir?”

Greg “yes, my computer, did you do something to it?” Chace looked at me, I knew he wanted me to talk so I took in a long breath and smiled

Me “of course not Mr Waters but since we had to fix the conditioning vents we had to switch off a few plugs, it must be reseting”

Greg “oh!”

Me “it will be fine”

Greg “oh, thank you” I gave him a reassuring smile, he turned and walked back to his office. The elevator doors opened and we stepped in. As they closed, I breath out a loud sigh of relief

Me “oh my God! That was such a rush!” He laughed

Chace “you work really well under pressure Mr Howard ”

Me “thank you! I feel high on something! How we almost got caught!”

Chace “okay lets go reset their air conditioning and get to work”

Me “alright”……

To be continued…

©Samuel Boateng & Michael A Michael

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