9 Chapter 9 - The Imminent War

3RD PERSON POV

A week ago. In an office sat a posh-looking male who looked to be in his late 30s. He has short, neatly styled silver hair, a clean-shaven face, and light skin. He was wearing a high-end black suit with his fit and athletic build accentuated by it. He was sporting an irritated expression as he sat on his office table, seemingly waiting for the two people standing before him to speak. The former two looked down in fear, unable to speak or move.

Seeing none of them speaking, the male sighed in annoyance. He glared at the two in front of him.

"So… Mind telling me how millions of dollars just f*cking vanished? Huh?" Devin Weston spoke as he leaned in closer to his table. The two continued to stay silent, but the fear in their eyes became more evident.

"Things were going so well, you know. I just got Merryweather to be allowed to expand for domestic operations after a long battle with Congress. We were already partying for f*ck's sake!" He ranted. "And you—" Weston raised his arms and pointed at the two in front of him. "Just threw SH*T at my FACE!" He retracted his arms and pointed towards his face as he shouted.

"So? SAY SOMETHING GOD DAMNIT!" He growled out. "Or else I'll f*cking kill your families. Or better yet, you—" He pointed to the man on the left. "You have a daughter, right? I'll f*cking sell her. I bet I'll get a sh*t ton of buyers for a teen in her prime."

"S-sir! Please no!" The man stepped forward and kneeled in front of him. "I…I'll do anything, just please don't do anything to my daughter, she's the only one I have left." Tears began to roll down his face. The man on his side only looked down, gritting his teeth.

"Anything?" Weston chuckled as he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Then GET ME MY MONEY BACK!!" He screamed as he slammed his fist on the table.

Before he could say anything more, a sudden knocking interrupted him. "Sir, it's Molly" A muffled feminine voice rang out on the other side of the door. Weston sighed as he heard her voice.

"Come in." He commanded. Molly did as she was told and opened the door, revealing a woman in her late 20s. Her slender build was shown by the blue suit she wore with a v-neck white blouse under the top that exposed her cleavage, and a pair of light-blue rimmed glasses adorning her face with a slight blush makeup.

She walked towards Weston with a tablet in her embrace. "I just got word from the team. They said they might've found a lead" She spoke with a professional smile. The two men who were under fire just a bit ago looked at Molly with hopeful eyes.

"Finally! Some good news" Weston sighed as he leaned back on his chair. "So, who took my money?"

"The Duggan Family" Molly answered.

"What? You're kidding. Those f*cking hillbillies?" He looked at her, dumbfounded.

"Yes, sir. According to the team's research, Mason Duggan was recently able to acquire backup drives of a portion of Clifford's neural network. He's been using the AI to raise the gas prices"

"Sh*t," He then looked at the other two men inside the office. "Get the f*ck out of here. I don't want to catch you speaking a word about what happened here, or else you know what'll happen, right?"

"Y-yes, Sir!" Both answered at the same, they then scurried away from the office with haste. Weston gave out another sigh as the two left.

"I thought the Clifford AI was wiped when Avon Hertz died. So why is this name popping out now…" Weston grumbled in annoyance.

"It seems a few FIB agents managed to save some of the drives before it was fully wiped by Hertz" Molly spoke.

"Of course they would," He massaged his forehead in frustration. "But the Duggans? I didn't think they had the balls to use the AI and steal my money. But if they were using such a sophisticated AI, how were you able to trace the money back to them?" He looked at Molly, confused.

"That, I do not know, Sir." She replied.

"Ah forget it. The only thing that matters is that I know they have my money." He said with a mad expression. "Get me Don Percival on the phone. I'll show them who they're messing with."

"Right away, Sir" Molly said as she did what he commanded.

***

<WEAZEL NEWS!>

<This Afternoon, A shootout occurred in the Marlowe Vineyard. Several armed men suddenly barged in on the Duggan Family's property and started raining bullets on their workers! Thankfully, none of the Duggan's were hurt during this altercation. As of right now, no statement from the Duggans has been released>

***

A few days later. On a patio sat two people on a steel chair and table with an umbrella on the latter. One of the two was a man in his early 40s. He was light-skinned and had a round, clean-shaven face with brown hair covered by a black cowboy hat resting on his head. He wore a black suit with a light blue dress shirt underneath. He had a cigarette and lighter in hand, trying to light it. After succeeding, he put the cigar on his lips and inhaled. A few seconds later, he exhaled the smoke to the annoyance of the other.

The other one was younger than the first. He looked to be in his early 30s. He had black hair styled into a mullet, was light-skinned, and had a bit of stubble beard growing on his face. He sported a white windowpane suit with grey lines, and a white dress shirt underneath. A brown cowboy hat resting on his head. He was in a foul mood.

The younger one was leaning back on his chair as his finger tapped on the table repeatedly out of impatience. He looked at the workers cleaning up what used to be a vineyard with rows upon rows of high-quality Cannabis. But now it was just a wasted, burnt land. He turned his view to what was a luxury vineyard home, now riddled with bullets and broken glass. Then to his older brother, Thornton Duggan, who was smoking with an indifferent look on his face. Which soured the already foul mood of Mason Duggan.

A few minutes later, the sound of a car pulling up could be heard from the patio. Mason who heard it, sighed in relief. "F*cking finally," He said as he stood up abruptly, catching the attention of the half-asleep Thornton.

An older gentleman then entered the patio. He had well-groomed white hair with a moustache on his face, he was light-skinned and had a slightly wrinkled face conveying his age. He wore a brown checkered brown suit, with a white pinstripe dress shirt underneath, with a bolo tie on his collar. A white cowboy hat resting on his head. He was Avery Duggan, the current head of the Duggan Crime Family.

He was already old but he still had an imposing authority evident as he trudged his way towards the two. As soon as Avery reached them, he sat on the table as well. Sighing as he did so.

"So? What's our move?" Mason Duggan asked, anger clear in his tone.

"Nothin'. If we move now, it could lead to a war. Which will hinder our acquisition of the Casino" Avery spoke.

"I don't give a rat's ass about the Casino right now! If we do nothing, it's basically an invitation for the other families to mess with us." Mason growled out. "We have enough people to f*ck them over, willing people, why do nothing?!" He questioned with frustration.

"Calm down now, let's be civil" Thornton interjected.

"Civil?" Mason scoffed. "You want me to be civil? After what they did? You're f*ckin' mad if you think I'm just gonna let it go." He glared at Thornton. "They destroyed our home, shot and KILLED our people. Not only that, we had to burn down our supply for this month or else the cops would start sniffing around"

"It's f*ckin Merryweather! Like we could even do sh*t to those people." Thornton's indifferent look turned to anger. "Look, I agree with you. But fighting with them now is suicide."

Mason sighed in frustration, unable to refute his words. "I already got the IAA up my ass, now this? F*ck's sake" He kicked his chair, leading it to slide away from him.

"As much as I don't want to admit it, I agree with Mason" Avery finally spoke. "Doing nothing would put a shame in our family name." He turned serious. "I'll put the acquisition of the Casino on hold for now. Mason, can you use Clifford to track them"

"I could get my team to, why?" Mason asked as he sat on another empty chair.

"Like Thornton said. Even if we bring the fight to them, it'll just be suicide. But that doesn't mean we have no way of weakening them." Avery said as he stood up. Mason grinned for the first time and stood up as well.

"Thornton, get our people ready by this week, I need them armed up and battle-ready whenever I say" Avery commanded.

"Understood." Thornton nodded his head.

"Mason, I need you to track Merryweather bases around LS and Blaine County and the routes for their supply lines," Avery commanded.

"On it," Mason said as he started getting ready to leave.

"As for me, I'm gonna have a talk with Devin Weston," Avery said.

"I doubt that narcissistic prick would even cooperate, or even listen to anyone at that matter. So why bother?" Thornton asked.

"It's worth a try. I want to avoid war as much as possible" Avery replied.

"And if he doesn't?" Mason asked this time.

"Then war it is," Avery spoke as he walked away.

***

That's it for Chapter 9!

If you have any suggestions for where you want the story to go, please let me know in the comments! Also, do you guys have any advice on how I could improve my descriptions?