Chapter 7- The Money

Raymond was preparing to go to work. Grace watched television. She increased the volume. Raymond knew it was to catch his attention. He joined her on the couch.

She was watching the news, it was about the upcoming election.

“As the race for the next mayor of Newland continues, the leading candidate that has been nicknamed ‘The Insurmountable Mount' has extended his lead in the poll with a noticeable……” a female newscaster read the news.

“The insurmountable Mountain, that was a wicked nick” Raymond smiled at Grace. Grace was a fan of Mayor Mount. Raymond was not political. He didn’t care about who should win.

“Wicked? That doesn’t sound nice. It’s dope. I told you that terrorist will never have a chance against my Mount”

Grace raised her eyebrows. She was happy with the poll. Raymond looked at her and smiled. He couldn’t understand why she was that happy. Mayor Mount didn’t even know she existed, he would never know. And here she was, having his back.

“Your Mount?” Raymond asked calmly. He didn’t feel good with that expression. He wanted her to make corrections.

“My Mount” Grace replied carelessly without thinking it through.

“No, that’s not what I mean” she quickly said after realizing what he was trying to insinuate. She smiled at him.

“No problem, it’s good to have competition” Raymond joked. He knew she didn’t mean it that way. He just wanted to pull her legs a little.

“Mount is in enough competition already. He is even old. He is a dad” Grace waved away and made a face like she had seen something disgusting.

“Don’t girls want dad” Raymond questioned incessantly. He stood up to be on his way.

“ Some girls, you say. Can we just stop talking about Mount and this mayorship or mayoral and talk about us” she pulled him back to sit. She looked serious. She must have had something on her mind she wanted him to hear. Raymond noticed that, but he ignored. He adjusted himself on the seat playfully.

“About us, I like that, very much” he winked and locked eyes with her. Grace tried not to smile but she couldn’t hold it back.

“Raymond,you know you are like an open book to me” 

“And you are like a video show to me. An interesting one that I can watch you all day” he flashed his eyes to show he wanted to see much of her, clearly.

“Something has been bothering you from some days back” Grace was serious again.

“You or me?” Raymond asked jokingly. He was not taking her serious.

“You”

“So,what’s it?” 

“Why don’t you tell us and stop keeping it to yourself” Grace rotated her hand to show she was referring to both of them.

Raymond heaved a sigh. Grace was right. Something had been bothering him recently but he didn’t want her to know. He was surprised to hear it from her. He thought he hid it so well. Now, he knew there was nothing he could keep from her. The best thing right now would be honesty.

“Yeah, ma'am. You are damn right. Some things were on my mind but I’m afraid I can’t share it with us” he said regretfully.

Grace scoffed. It seemed she was not satisfied with his answer.

“I’m planning a surprise for you. You can not know about it. Are you cleared?” he leaned towards her with his lips protruded. He wanted to kiss her. She denied him and pushed back his head back to where it was before. She wasn’t cool with the idea but she definitely didn’t want to push further.

There was nothing else bothering Raymond than the grand wedding. The problem was that he had not found any possible or reasonable means he could try. All he had was just and empty hopes they were.

At work. Raymond could neither concentrate nor hold a conversation with his colleagues without swaying. After being disappointed by Jean the other day. He had decided not to share his personal problems with any of them again.

When he realized he could not gather needed concentration. He went to sit in his favorite corner where he could be alone to think of a probable solution to his unrealistic mission. He buried his head in his hands.

“Problem shared is problem solved, isn’t it?” Stan stood right in front of him. Raymond glanced at him. He would never share his personal problem at work again after his experience with Jean.

“I just want to rest, if that sounds like a problem to you” Raymond wished he would leave and he would just be alone.

“That doesn’t sound like a problem unless you were weakened by the thought of five hundred thousand dollars” Stan must have wanted to pique his interest. Raymond felt a great amount of anger towards Jean for not only stopping at insulting Grace but also broadcasting his situation.

“That was Jean, right. He told you everything?” Raymond's rage was clearly written on his face. 

“No, no. Not Jean. I overheard everything when it came out of your own mouth” Stan seemed very sure of what he was saying.

“What if I say I don’t want to talk about it?” Raymond dismissed him by looking away from him. He didn’t need to talk about it with anybody. 

“I will take my leave” Stan was leaving but he stopped after taking few steps away from him. Raymond was worried, Stan would also be getting on his nerves. He waited to see Stan intended action.

“What if I say I know how you can get the money?” Stan chuckled. He must be joking. Raymond ignored him in the hope that he would leave if he didn’t get his attention.

“Have you ever heard about Jailbreaker?” Stan continued despite Raymond's rudeness.

Raymond had heard about Jailbreaker so many times. He was a popular criminal. Rumors were he had been sentenced to jail over a hundred times and he could get out anytime he wanted. That was the story behind his name, the Jailbreaker.

Raymond couldn’t understand how the Jailbreaker could be a solution to his problem. This wasn’t a matter of going to jail.

“What has he gotten to do with this?” Raymond asked without interest. 

“To get money, you need a job. And the Jailbreaker is the only employer I know that pays such amount you seek” Stan bent towards him. He seemed serious with what he was saying. 

Raymond thought about it. The Jailbreaker did not look like he was rich enough to own that amount of money talk less of paying it out. 

“Employer? The Jailbreaker runs an automobile company?” Raymond was expecting a negative answer. The jailbreaker had never been involved in automobiles. Raymond only wanted Stan to spit out more details about him.

“He runs a company but it is definitely not automobile” Stan was amused. He chuckled. He must have realized the reason why Raymond mentioned automobile. 

“So what does he do?” Raymond was still unsatisfied with his answer.

“The story will be sweeter from the horse's mouth” it seemed Stan wanted to put him in suspense. And he  knew well Raymond didn’t like being put in the dark.

“You are taking me to him?” Raymond couldn’t hide his surprise. He was excited as well but not knowing the nature of the job was still a cloud on his mind.

“The jail breaker was open to all,to everyone”

“Stan, there is something wrong that is still very unclear to me” Raymond could not give up trying to be cleared. He felt if he pressed further, Stan might be pressured to say what he wanted to hear.

“If you are worried about the nature of the job. Let your mind be at rest. It is something you can do. Easy task” Stan snapped his finger.

“So, why are you not working for him, if it could fetch a lot of money?” 

“I had worked for him once. The job isn’t a job you do everytime. It requires a high level of determination. Like yours right now” Stan explained reluctantly. 

“ If this is armed robbery or kidnapping. I can’t do them” Raymond spoke slowly with fear. He could never do those. Grace wouldn’t like it.

“Whoa. No. Just see yourself as a freelancer. You feel better, right?” 

After work, Raymond went with Stan to where they would meet the Jailbreaker.

All along, Raymond didn’t feel good about it. Something that could pay that much couldn’t be legit.

Stan didn’t seem to be lying when he said it was nothing like robbery or kidnapping. It wouldn’t hurt checking it out.

They got to a bar which Stan identified to be the Jailbreaker's base. The bar itself looked poor to Raymond but he couldn’t back out. He was already standing there.

They entered the bar. The Jailbreaker needed no introduction. Raymond had not met him before but he recognized him instantly. 

He had his own lounge that was filled with girls in bikinis, lingeries and all sorts. They were all over him like bees surrounding their queen. No one would appear so flaunting except the one that could pay such a hefty amount.

They were stopped by some bodyguards when they walked over to the lounge. They frisked them before they were allowed to see him.

The Jailbreaker greeted Stan like an acquaintance. They shook hands stylishly. Raymond didn’t need to worry about that. He already told him he had once worked for him.

The music was so loud that they had to scream before they could be hard. Stan moved close to him and whispered some words into his ears.

The Jailbreaker dismissed all the girls. Like it was time to discuss business. Stan sat beside him and signaled to Raymond to come over.

Raymond looked at the Jailbreaker more closely. His looks was enough a reason to put him behind the bars. He made up his mind quickly that nothing would come out of this meeting.

Raymond sat quietly beside Stan. He wouldn’t want to annoy the Jailbreaker. He had made the mistake of coming here already.

The Jailbreaker raised up his middle finger. Raymond wondered who he was trying to insult by that. The music volume decreased and they could hear themselves easily.

“So who have you been working with before? You look Texan, the new Cowboys” the Jailbreaker asked Raymond. Raymond didn’t know he was referring to him. He was not himself.

“You bring a mute?” the Jailbreaker asked Stan with a disappointing face.

“No, he’s not. He is just new to the business. He doesn’t really what it isall about?” Stan was very relaxed. He didn’t seem scare of this man that looked so criminal.

“How do you know he is not some agents or working for the Feds” the Jailbreaker looked scared. He looked at Stan like he had done something seriously dangerous.

“Ray is not a cop. We have been working together for years” Stan laughed ridiculously. He must be mocking the Jailbreaker who was scared.

“So, why didn’t you tell him about it?” the Jailbreaker relaxed. He lit a cigar and puffed.

“It might sound too good to be true from me” Stan responded while locking eyes with Raymond. Raymond wished they would just talk talk without involving but it seemed it was not going to be like that.

“So, Ray man. We are freelancers. Our clients are criminals, rich criminals. They have committed some petty crimes and will be sent to jail. So we become them, get their face, their fingerprints and we go to prison in their place. You can go think about it and come back” the Jailbreaker explained briefly “if you have any questions, you can ask Stan because I am not opportuned with enough time now” he dismissed them rudely.

“That was quite a complete and concise brief” Stan shook hands with him and they left.

Raymond was very surprised to hear such a thing. It was the first time in his life to hear this. Stan was right. It was unbelievable but not good.

There were thousands of questions he wanted to ask but that would be if he wanted to go further with this. He surely needed to think about this.