"Hey man, how's it going?" James asked politely. Now that he was officially introduced to Phil's team, it was better than he try to be genial.
"Good man. James, right?" Trevor replied.
"Yeah dude, I'm James." James confirmed.
"James Jones?" Trevor asked again.
"Yeah man. How did you know my last name?" James asked curiously.
"Oh, it came up in my work over the last couple of days. So, you're the guy that the organization has been interested in lately. Well, it's good to have you on the team then. If the organization wants you, you're probably a huge talent." Trevor dodged the question.
"Me? I'm just a normal guy." James demurred.
"Not to the organization apparently." Trevor laughed.
"What organization?" James asked, curious. It was the first time he had heard of the organization.
"Our organization mate. Didn't Phil give you the basics?" Trevor said casually.
"Not really. He's been in Monte Carlo for a while, and everything happened pretty quick before then." James responded.
"Right, he definitely fucked that one up. Alright mate, I'll fill you in then." Trevor volunteered.
"The organization runs, among other things, all of gambling and vice in this city and the surrounding area. We're also silent owners of a couple of the nearby Indian casinos where we generate a lot of steady revenue."
"When you look at the bigger picture, we're obviously not the only ones in the game. There's too much scale for us to be able to dominate the entire country. There are other groups like ours that have their own little fiefdoms in different parts of the country. Also, and this is a rumor I've heard but haven't confirmed, there are six or so larger conglomerates at a global level that control the largest markets, markets like Las Vegas, Macau, Monte Carlo, et cetera."
"Since there's so much competition, and violence is bad for business, we tend to use alternative means to settle disputes or compete for reputation, and that's gambling. Poker is the biggest form of competitive gambling in this part of the world, so that's usually what we default to. Now, since you're part of Phil's team, that means that somehow, somewhere, someone saw you play and decided you would bring value to our pro gambling team. That's the team that Phil heads, and who we send out to participate in those events when needed."
"So, like I said, if you're part of the pro team, and the organization wants you, then you're probably a huge talent. At least within the local area."
James' head spun a little. This was a lot of information that he needed to digest quickly.
"Wait, you said we own gambling, vice, and other related things. Are we like a mafia or something?" James clarified quickly.
"No dude. Nothing like that. It's mostly all legit, above the board business concerns. We don't go around breaking kneecaps and collecting protection money from shops and companies, and we definitely don't do anything too illegal like drugs and trafficking. I mean, we occasionally resort to violence, but you have to crack an egg to make an omelette right? It's just the cost of doing business." Trevor reassured.
"That's good. Hey, does the organization have a name? Maybe I can do some research online and bring myself up to speed that way." James asked, relieved that he was not involved in anything too criminal.
Trevor laughed loudly at James' naivety.
"James man, first, you won't find anything about us on the internet. We operate silently. Secondly, we're The Organization, as in, capital T, capital O."
James paused momentarily upon hearing this.
Could it be? Was it possible that the O in the note his dad had left him referred to the Organization? If so, he would need to tread carefully in the future and gather more information.
If the O truly stood for The Organization, then he would climb it's ranks and pull it down from the inside. This, James swore to himself.
[ Mission: Vengeance - 5% Completed. ]
[ You've put a faceless name on your final target. It's not much, but it's a step in the right direction. System will support you all the way. ]
"You alright man? You zoned out for a bit there." Trevor asked with concern.
"Yeah, my brain just short circuited at the name. I would expect us to have a more flashy name y'know?" James prevaricated, before changing the topic quickly, "How does someone like Phil become the leader of the gambling team? He just graduated high school with me. I don't think he stayed back at any grade, so he's definitely only eighteen."
"You mean you don't know who Phil's dad is?" Trevor asked incredulously. "You're staying at his employee area right?"
"No I don't. I only know they have a huge estate, and yeah I'm staying at the employee area." James said abashedly.
"Alright man. Most of us started off staying there anyway. So, here's the deal - Phil's dad is one of the top dogs in the organization. He heads all of the gambling and vice-related businesses. Look, this place is one of ours, and you see how much deference he gets here? It's not because he's a huge spender or anything like that. It's because he's the son of the boss." Trevor enlightened James further.
"Oh, and as to how he can lead a gambling team, we have strong connections with the government agencies here. It's not too hard to go in and edit a couple of rows in a database to create an identity, or change an age. You got the card we made for you right? As far as anyone knows, the person on that card is real." Trevor continued.
"Whoa. That makes a lot of sense when you put it that way. So, don't piss off Phil, because the hammer will swing down from above, and if I need a new face, I come to you." James wittily summarized what he had learnt.
"Haha, yeah, that's basically it." Trevor laughed.
James thought for a little while. If O was the organization, and his dad had the system, then it was likely that one of the perpetrators was Phil's father. He would have to get closer to Phil and try to use that relationship to investigate his father.
[ Mission : Vengeance - 10% Completed. ]
[ Previously, you found a faceless name. Now, you have a nameless face. Although you don't know what Phil's father looks like, Phil's face will do for now. ]
"So, I know what Luke does, and I know what Rishabh does, but what do you do on a day-to-day basis Trevor?" James picked up the conversation again. This meet and greet session that Phil had organized was a gold mine of information.
"Nothing quite as fun as Rishabh. That guy seriously has the best job. The high-stakes gamblers are the worst players ever. Money doesn't matter to them, so they'll just keep throwing money at you until they win one or two hands. It's so profitable that he has his own expense account just for entertaining and prospecting new players." Trevor griped.
"I know, I can't imagine coming here every day. He's probably been with every girl here at least once already." James commiserated.
"Probably not. The girls here rotate pretty often. We have to keep things fresh to keep attracting the businessmen here." Trevor commented.
"Is that one of the things you do in operations then?" James picked up on his cue and asked.
"It's one of the things operations does, yes, but I'm in gambling operations not vice operations. They wouldn't move me because Phil likes me. I hear some of the folks in vice operations get to sample the goods to test for quality." Trevor griped again.
James kept quiet and looked at Trevor expectantly.
"Oh alright. I'll tell you what I do. See the phone you're using? That's a centrally managed phone by our infrastructure team. That means we can control and access that phone at any time to do things like update your contacts, install apps, figure out where it is if it gets lost, and wipe the data if it gets stolen. I work on things like that." Trevor said disgruntledly.
"Yeah, definitely not as fun as Rishabh. I'm sorry dude. On that note, we should take advantage of the fact that Phil's paying and get some extra value out of that dollar." James redirected Trevor away from the conversation they just had.
While Trevor was occupied, James put two and two together. Trevor earlier had known his last name, which meant that someone had given him a tasking recently. Then, given the description of Trevor's day to day job, it was likely that the tasking involved tracking his location and progress on improving his skills.
If the organization had noticed that he was at Gina's place all the time instead of focusing on his gambling, then they could have stepped in to threaten her and cause her to suggest the break up!
[ It's moot now James. System suggests you stop thinking about this and focus on moving on. You still have missions to complete and unlock! ]
It's not moot, James told his system mentally. If she was coerced, then there was a chance he could get her back!
James suddenly regretted his actions upstairs. If Gina had been blackmailed, then he had freely and willingly cheated on her.
No. He had to go find her and discover the truth!
As James staggered to his feet, all the alcohol he had consumed went to his head.
He took two steps forward and blacked out.