Johnny was seated across from a man who looked like he had been either beaten up or in some kind of accident. The man was blindfolded and had his hands tied behind his back. His legs were tied to the chair he was sitting on, although one was bandaged up all the way to his knee. Ben was also in the room with them, along with Frank. It was a dimly lit room with no other furniture except the two chairs. There were no windows.
Frank removed the blindfold from the man, who shook his head slowly, awakening from the sedative they had given him.
Ben, who was standing next to Johnny, looked intimidating with his arms crossed and his face set to stone. He began, "Cam Duy. That's your name, isn't it?"
Cam looked up at Ben with a scowl and said nothing. Ben sighed and rubbed his chin with his hand. He put both hands on his waist and growled, "Don't waste your time and our time playing dumb."
Johnny leaned in and through gritted teeth said, "We know who you are. We know what you did. If you want to get out of this alive, you'll tell us what you know." He gave Frank a look and frank took out his cell phone and showed Cam a video. Johnny continued, "You planned it all, but I bet you didn't count on the fact that the city installed high tech cameras to catch idiots like you running red lights. They take video now instead of just fuzzy pictures of license plates."
Ben gave a low, mean, laugh, "Bet you thought disabling the CCTV camera across the street was enough."
Ben took the cell phone from Frank, paused it, and then showed Cam the part of the video he had paused on that clearly showed Cam's face. "Do you think you'll want to frame this for posterity?," he asked sarcastically.
"I'm sure of he will," Johnny played along. "I bet he can even give a copy to his mother. Bet she's proud of her son."
That got to Cam who threatened, "Don't you motherfuckers dare mention my mother."
"Oh, so you can speak now?," Johnny taunted with a fake smile. The smile disappeared as quickly as it came, however, as he continued, "Good. Now tell us everything."
"Why would I do that?," Cam scoffed. "I don't have a death wish." He spat on the ground at Johnny's feet.
Ben looked at Frank and gave a nod. Frank stepped forward and slapped Cam.
"Let's keep our saliva inside our mouths, alright?," Ben said. "We are all civilized men here, aren't we?"
Cam rolled his eyes but stayed silent.
Johnny sighed, "Look. You don't have many choices here. We are going to turn you over to the police. And before you throw more spit our way, let me just tell you that, yes, we have people on the force, and, no, they will not question where we got you from. They'll just be happy to take the credit for catching you, especially since they have your face on that video."
Ben followed, "And how long do you think you'll last once we do that? You know Drakos doesn't like loose ends."
That gave Cam something to think about and the panic on his face showed it.
"We'll give you a few minutes to think about that," Johnny said as he stood up, turned his back to Cam and gave Ben a look indicating that they had him now. Ben turned his head back to the room as he and Johnny were walking out the door and told Frank to get Cam some water. Such a gesture might help move things along.
Ben and Johnny waited outside the door for about 10 minutes. They had both left the hospital without much word after Johnny got the call from Frank. Johnny had just said they had to take care of something related to the accident and Selene understood. Ben showed Johnny that he was texting Selene to let her know they were alright and to get an update on Peter.
Selene texted back that Peter was resting, and his parents had gone home to rest themselves. She had decided to wait for a chance to see Peter before leaving herself.
When the time was up, Ben and Johnny went back inside the room. Johnny sat back on his chair, leaning back in a relaxed position with one arm behind the back of the chair and legs crossed.
"So," he started, "Have you had enough time to think about what we talked about?"
Cam nodded, "What can you offer me? And…I have a mother and a sister."
Johnny also nodded, indicating he understood. "We can promise you all safety. We can relocate them and make sure that you are safe in prison."
"How can I trust you guys?," Cam asked in a scared voice, looking up at Ben. He was no longer the confident man from a few minutes ago. Rather, he looked even younger than his 21 years. He had done the math and realized that what Johnny said was true. He was a dead man if Victor got his hands on him.
Ben looked at him with a smirk and asked back, "Would you rather trust Drakos?"
Cam sighed and looked down, "Okay. I get it. I'll tell you everything."
Johnny looked at Ben and then let out a long breath.
After that, Cam filled them in on the details of how he came to be the hit and run driver that caused Peter and Johnny's accident. Desperate for money to pay off debts his family had accumulated, he was forced to drop out of college to find work. Unfortunately, the work he found didn't make enough and soon a friend introduced him to the person who would become the middleman for a lot of the jobs he did for the Drakos organization. After some prodding by Johnny that they needed more hard evidence, Cam revealed that he kept all phone conversations recorded on the cell phone he'd been provided for the lates "transaction." He also told them where they could find the cell phone.
"Is that the only phone you kept?," Ben asked, knowing the answer to the question.
When Cam didn't say anything, Ben insisted, "Look man, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way gets your family out of LA and into a better life."
Cam nodded, "I kept all of them." Then he looked desperate, "But if I tell you where they are, it will just add charges to my case right? I can't do that."
Johnny put a hand on Cam's shoulder and said, "We know people in the DA's office. If you cooperate, they'll make a deal. I can guarantee it."
Cam started crying, "Okay. I'll help."
Ben left Johnny to take care of the rest and went back to the hospital. By the time he arrived, Selene had already had her visit with Peter and was ready to head home. She told Ben that she'd had to tell Peter about the accident and Ben said he understood. He filled her in on the evidence they were able to gather on the accident and maybe other similar events related to Drakos.
"Oh thank God," Selene said. "Maybe we can be free from Victor soon then?"
"Let's hope so," was all Ben said in response before leading her out of the hospital.
As they walked through the sliding doors of the hospital exit, an older man in a hurry bumped into Selene and quickly apologized before continuing on.
Selene froze as she glimpsed his face. Ben turned to her to ask what was wrong, but Selene couldn't speak. She looked near tears, causing Ben to lead her to a nearby bench. Maria, who had been walking within a few yards of them came over to see what happened.
Ben gently said, "Selene, are you okay? Do you want me to call a doctor?"
Selene put her hand to her mouth and shook her head. It was as if she had been in a trance. She looked back and forth between Ben and Maria and then tried to smile, "I'm sorry. I just…I could've sworn…But, no, it couldn't have been."
"What? Tell us. It's okay," Ben reassured her.
"That man," Selene said, looking at Ben helplessly, "That man who bumped into me just now. I could've sworn he was my foster father." She looked down. "You know…the one who…." She couldn't finish.