Gabriel dodged to the side, as Wayne tried to get him into a grapple.

 

“Wayne, I can explain! [Lil Tiger] is just joking. I didn’t fall for her; I just almost fell on top of her a couple of times.” Gabriel said in a rush.

 

Gabriel didn’t pay too much attention to the phrasing of his words, as he was busy dodging punches and kicks. He wished he had though. Wayne’s already scowling face appeared to scrunch up even tighter, as he digested the new information through his paranoid dad filter.

 

“You tried to mount my princess. Time to die boy!” Wayne growled out.

 

“No that’s not what I mean, just liste..” Gabriel’s explanation was cut short, by Wayne suddenly becoming slipperier than an eel.

 

Wayne managed to get behind Gabriel, wrapping his arms in a choke hold and hooking his heels around the front of Gabriel’s legs. Wayne used his heavier weight, to drag Gabriel onto the ground and proceeded to choke him, while yelling at him.

 

“I asked you to do one thing. Protect my little girl and what do you do!? Try to cop a feel! I bet you tried using my name to get close to her. Didn’t ya?” Wayne accused.

 

Gabriel managed to shift his heaps down and lifted his elbow up to ram into Wayne’s unprotected side. Getting three elbows in allowed Gabriel to free himself from the choke hold and get to his feet. He backed away with his hands up.

“Wayne I’m serious. Just let me explain. I would never do that and the thing about me falling is just a running joke between [Lil Tiger] and I. I didn’t even tell her I knew you until last night.” Gabriel explained.

 

Gabriel proceeded to tell Wayne about every encounter he had with his daughter, in painstaking detail. Wayne asked a multitude of questions and finally seemed to be willing to listen near the part where Gabriel came out of the water pipe. Well he appeared to at least be willing to stop trying to throttle Gabriel. He put his hand up to stop Gabriel from explaining any more, taking a breath to calm himself, Wayne winced slightly in pain, throwing Gabriel another scowl. Wayne began to walk in circles around Gabriel as he thought over the information.

 

“Hmmm, she might have embellished her retelling to get back at us for watching over her. Maybe that’s why she appeared cold this morning.” Wayne said, he was more talking to himself then Gabriel.

 

“Shouldn't she be trying to get back at you though? Why am I the one being punished?” Gabriel asked, while he rubbed his neck.

 

“Well, you did agree to watch her, so you are partially at fault.” Wayne reasoned, he saw Gabriel’s accusing face and quickly carried on. “Anyways let’s get to training.”

 

“Wait Wayne. Jesus man, just give me a second. How can you switch gears so quickly? There are some things I need your help with. Can we talk for a moment? Gabriel asked, his voice taking on a more serious tone.

 

“Oh, what is it boy?” Wayne asked, seeing the light in Gabriel’s eyes slightly change, he took a seat on the mat and patted a spot next to him.

 

Gabriel walked over and sat down. He stayed silent for a minute, putting his thoughts together, Wayne allowed him the time as he could see whatever Gabriel was about to ask was important.

 

“Well Wayne. First, I need to ask, have you accepted any contracts of employment recently?” Gabriel asked.

 

“Nah, I haven't yet but I will need to soon. I have been on a break for too long. Money drains out quickly when you suck at spending it.” Wayne said with a laugh.

 

“Okay, that’s great. Would you consider it if I offered you a contract, it will be a long one. I will pay you the top going rate and before you say anything though let me finish.” Gabriel said, putting up a hand when he saw Wayne was about to ask a question.\

 

“What I want from you is twofold. First, I want you to personally build up a team of experienced personnel. I want people trained in intelligence gathering, espionage, security and even assassination. The team will be led by you. I want this team to handle majority of the physical ops for me, the first one being, is that I want around the clock security for my family. I also want you including anyone among the team that is willing, to enter D.O. and join the guild I plan to make.” Gabriel finished.

 

“Well shit lad, that was not what I expected. Kristof told me just this morning, that you have started making some decent money in that game world everyone is talking about. But what you're asking for, that is going to cost a lot and I mean a god damn lot. Before we get into all the logistics and funding of setting up a team like this. I have two questions that I need answered first. Why? Why do you need this team? And who have you stepped on or planning to step on?” Wayne asked, after taking a couple of minutes to take in Gabriel’s offer.

 

“I can’t and won’t go into too much detail until I know you’re with me. I can tell you however, that I will be coming up against multiple corporations and Family’s in the future. I hope to not enter that many conflicts but I know for a fact, I will be butting heads with Braxen Co and La Familia Michoacana.” Gabriel replied, staring into Wayne’s eyes as he said the last two names.

 

Wayne’s entire face stiffened when he heard the last two names, his eyes taking on a predatory gleam that softened after a moment.

 

“Jesus... You’re serious aren’t you lad? Not even mentioning the financial power of Braxen Co, that Family run Cartel is beyond dangerous. Their rivers run deep, any piece of shady crap or illegal activity happening in New York can be traced back to someone from the Knights Templar Cartel. Your father would be the first one to tell you not to get involved with those animals.” Wayne warned.

 

“I know. Trust me, I know. However, what a lot of people don’t know, is that Leonard Braxen rose to power, because of the help the Templar Cartel gave him. For many reasons, personal included, I will come into direct opposition with Braxen Co. I will have no choice but to take on them both, as they will both be coming for me eventually. I am working against the clock here Wayne and I need to get ahead of the game. I don’t know if you have had any dealings with the Braxen family but I know you would like to see the La Familia Michoacana be taken down, just as much as me. Can you help me?” Gabriel asked, a bit of pleading worked its way into his tone.

 

“I heard whispers about the connection between the two. It does add up though. Hmmm, I will be honest in saying that it does interest me. I know quite a few guys who would sell their left nut to join an outfit made for combating both of them. A lot of guys here have lost friends and family due to those two in the past, especially those Cartel dogs. Just... just give me a minute to think.” Wayne said, he stood up and walked to the other side of the room as he mumbled to himself.

Gabriel stood up as well and waited for Wayne, and after what felt like forever to him. Wayne came back over, with a frosty but determined expression.

 

“Alright, I’ll do it. However, I have one condition. I will help run majority of the ops and join you in D.O. Which will help me be able to keep an eye on my princess and you..” Wayne said the last part under his breath before he continued. “I however, am not the large picture type; I will need someone to oversee majority of the ops and disseminate the intelligence reports. I know of someone who has a deep hatred against the Templar Cartel, if you mention your father's name too, he will be sure to help. With him overseeing things, we are less likely to be bitten in the ass.” Wayne proposed, before he could say the name though Gabriel interrupted.

 

“Do you mean Akira Rimonato? I have already hired his daughter/protégé and have a meeting with both today at lunch. I planned to get Akira’s support then or at least a form of it.” Gabriel said.

 

“How did you... I didn’t think Kristof would have told you about those days, I imagined he wouldn’t want to talk about them all. Well butter my biscuits Gab, and call me sally. I’m impressed. Very well then. I can tell by your face that you want to move on this quick. I’ll need to make a couple of phone calls to some old friends, thankfully because of all the private security firms in the city, most of the people we will want already live here. I will also need to meet a couple of people in person.... Give me until tomorrow afternoon, I should have a rough outline of the people we need and how much it will cost.” Wayne replied.

 

“Thank you, Wayne. I know I haven’t proven it all yet, but please trust in me that I am not trying to bite off more than I can chew. I have plans upon plans, this is not a spur of the moment idea.” Gabriel promised.

 

“Don’t worry. I honestly don’t know you all that well but the trust I hold in Kristof can’t be shaken, he has never said anything but praise in relation to you. Plus, I am not too bad at reading people; I know you aren’t pissfarting around here. Just don’t ever keep me out of the loop in some, “need to know” basis bullsh*t, Okay Gab? Or should I be calling you Boss now?” Wayne laughed, putting his hand out for a shake.

 

“Gabriel or Gab will be just fine for now.” Gabriel said, you couldn’t smack the wide grin off his face at that moment, even if you wanted too.

 

“By the way Gab, have you told your dad about any of this? He should know.” Wayne asked.

Gabriel cringed a little and averted his eyes.

 

“Ahhh, I guess not. I won’t get into your family business but I will tell you that Kristof is not someone you should hide things from. It is hard to earn that stubborn old man’s trust but I couldn’t imagine trying to earn it back after losing it.” Wayne advised.

 

“I understand, I just wanted to keep as much away from the family as possible but I imagine Dad will figure things out sooner than later. Thanks for the advice, Wayne.” Gabriel replied.

 

After Gabriel explained a couple more things in regards to Minoko’s role, funding and about D.O. Wayne promised Gabriel, that he would have a couple of guys stationed around his family by the end of tomorrow. After setting up the place to meet tomorrow, the two split ways.

 

Gabriel checked the time and saw he still had two hours before meeting Minoko and her father. He decided to head to Westwood & Westwood’s office, he was planning to have the meeting there anyway and wanted to get a jump on selling the gold he had just made. Gabriel needed to provide Minoko with a large amount of funds as soon as possible, to get everything running. He needed to also invest some money, as the upkeep for his future operation will be just as costly if not more.

 

Calling up an automated driver service, Gabriel hired a cab and headed towards time square. The towering skyscrapers that encompassed the concrete jungle known as New York, appeared to Gabriel as pillars holding up the sky. Gabriel imagined that it would only take a couple to collapse to make the whole city feel as if the sky was falling. The towers casted long shadows over the ground as the cab took Gabriel deeper into the city, the rectangular shades of darkness felt like bars of a jail cell locking in the city. Gabriel hated and loved his home city, at times it felt both freeing and suffocating to him.