I get to the club at night. It’s a completely different place than I’ve seen the last couple times I’ve been here. I’m feeling under-dressed. 

Tito is manning the door and there’s a decent lineup outside. The throbbing bass from inside the club adds to the atmosphere. There’s a party happening inside, but it spills to the parking lot as the anticipation of what’s to come flows through the partygoers behind the velvet rope. 

I ignore the line and walk right up to Tito. 

“I need to talk to Ludo.” 

“Long time no see. Boss doesn’t take visitors during business hours. Come back tomorrow.” 

“No,” I say, getting right into Tito’s face. “I need to talk to him now.” 

Tito grabs me by my shirt collar. That smirk across his face makes me want to poke his eyes out, but that would ruin the good work I did earlier. I think better of it. 

Before he’s able to get any licks in, Vincent opens the door to the club behind him. 

“Let him in.” 

“Lucky again,” Tito says, dropping me and mockingly rearranging my collar. “We’ll save round two for later.” 

“Looking forward to it,” I say, not actually looking forward to getting ragdolled again.

Vincent walks me through the club that is a different place entirely when it’s running. The booths are full with drunken revelers and the dance floor has a mass of humanity that’s bouncing along with the beat, almost in waves. It’s mesmerizing, but not enough to distract me from staying angry. 

Vincent stops in front of me, putting a hand up. I didn’t hear if he said anything along with it, but I got the message. He’s going to give Ludo a heads up that I’m here. Part of me wants to burst in there to surprise him, but I saw enough on Tito’s recall that I know I don’t want to do that. 

From the office, the club looks small. Nothing is hidden from up here. I imagine Ludo had a say in that. Vincent opens the door and waves me in. 

Ludo gives me a look up and down. He feins disappointment. 

“You know we have a dress code here, right?” 

“I’m not here to partake. I’m here to talk about this.” I slam the bug on his desk for emphasis.

Ludo looks at it with his eyes, but barely moves otherwise. 

“Those are expensive, you know.” 

“You were spying on me. That was not a part of the deal. You said there would need to be trust between us. How the hell can I trust you when you’re doing this?” 

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding.” 

“Oh, really?” I step towards Ludo. Vincent is quick to put a hand on my shoulder. 

“Take a seat, Rhys.” Ludo says calmly, still not moving. 

Vincent doesn’t give me a chance to consider it and pushes me into the chair. 

“The thing about trust is it’s a one way street, Rhys. You don’t need to trust me. You can and you should, but you don’t have to. I need to know that I can trust you.” 

Ludo picks up the bug from his desk and holds it up. 

“This is just so I know that I can trust you.”

“That’s bullshit,” I bark, a little more reserved than I want to. I can still feel Vincent looming behind me. I don’t want to give him an excuse to re-tenderize my bruises. 

“Is it? You want something from me. I didn’t need anything from you. I’m holding up my end, but how can I be sure you’re holding up your end?” He puts the bug down on the desk and points to it with his index finger. “This is one of the ways how.” 

“This was installed before we were doing business.”

“I like to know who I’m going to be working with.” 

“I don’t think it’s just that. You wanted to work with me. You need me much more than you let on.” 

Ludo, for the first time this whole meeting, breaks his calm facade. He gives me a threatening glare.

“Let’s get this straight. Do I prefer to work with you? Sure. You do great work. I’ve seen that first hand.” Ludo’s smile quickly fades and he stands up over his desk to emphasize his point. “Do I need you? Absolutely not. I’ve cut out much better geeks for less than this. I won’t hesitate to do so again if you push me.” 

 He brushes himself off and takes a seat on the desk leaving little space between us. He leans towards me so close that I can feel his breath as he speaks. 

“Do we have an understanding?” 

 He doesn’t move. 

“Yes.” 

“Good,” He claps, seemingly back in a good mood. He moves back behind his desk. “I’ll be sending more of my guys tomorrow. Rest up. You’ll have a long day. Or feel free to stick around and have a drink before you go.” 

He nods behind me and I can feel Vincent get closer. I put a hand up to tell him not to bother dragging me out. I’ll see myself out. 

“One more thing,” Ludo says, before I make it out the door. “You said you knew I had installed all this before we did business together, yet you still came. Weird thing to hold a grudge about, no?” 

“I just had a feeling. I only found the camera today.” 

Ludo points his pen at me with a big smile. 

“I knew you were a smart one. Glad to have you onboard.”