My Counterattack System After Reborn

Chapter 9: Lights Out

Todd gave Jarod a menacing look. "How much is D.S.G. Unlimited worth?” he asked. “Tell me that, will you? Then, if you guarantee the safety of my family, I will give the company to you."

"Where is my son?" Jarod shouted. "I want to see my son first."

"Where is my dad?" Todd frowned and said, “I asked you first.”

"Your dad is at the headquarters," Jarod said, "He is safe for now."

"Is it that simple?" Todd did not believe Jarod's words.

"It's that simple," Jarod replied. “Now where is Zachery?"

“He is right behind you!” Todd exclaimed, and when Jarod turned around, Todd kicked him in the stomach. Then he grabbed the older man’s arm and twisted it behind his back, snapped his wrist, and took the gun out of his hands. Finally, he pushed his adversary onto the ground.

Jarod cried out as his ass hit the hard ground. He looked up at Todd angrily. "How dare you trick me?" he hissed. 

"We are all the same," Todd replied. He smiled as he lifted the gun and pointed it at Jarod’s face. 

Jarod clutched his broken wrist and sneered: "Do you really think that you can control everything? Or anything, for that matter! Your father's failure is inevitable. By midnight, your family will have lost everything!” 

“And you will have lost your son…” Todd smirked. “How do you like those apples?”

"Hand him over!” Jarod roared. “If you do that, I will allow for your family to escape with their lives!”

“I think you have over-evaluated the value of your hand.” Todd chuckled. “In this instance, you would be better off taking orders. You are in no place to be issuing them. I have got you by the short hairs. What have you got except for threats, threats, and more threats?”

“Threats might be all I have, but they aren’t empty,” Jarod replied. “You are so naïve. You do not know who your enemy is. Thus, you do not know what you are up against. Compared to your enemy, you are less significant than an ant.”  

"I thought you were my enemy?" Todd smiled and calmly said, "I don't understand the business, but I take care of my family. If my family is threatened, then I will use every means at my disposal to protect them and avenge them. Anyway, I think we are done talking. Rinse you are not my biggest enemy, I suppose that I don’t need you…”

Todd squeezed the trigger on the pistol and a hole appeared in Jarod’s forehead. He fell backward, and his lights were out before he even hit the ground.  

Todd had mixed feeling about what had just transpired. He had been waiting for over six years for this, but it was not nearly as satisfying as he had thought it would be. Oh, well – he thought – At least now I know that I will never have to worry about that piece of s**t again! He looked down at the body and grimaced. He had a shovel in the trunk, and he was strong, but he was not too keen on digging a grave. As he turned towards the car, though, billions of tinny black bugs emerged from Jordan’s orifices. They came out of his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, anus, and d**k hole, and they formed a blanket over his body.

It was not long before the cover was so thick that Todd could not see the corpse. That being said, he could still hear the wet snap, crackle, and popping noises they made as they fed off of Jarod’s flesh and bones. As the bugs ate, they grew bigger, so that by the time they were done, they were as big as horseflies, and there was nothing left of the body.

Because the bugs had no host, they quickly died, and as they settled on the ground, they turned to dust and blew away. All that was left of Jarod was his clothes, but that was not a big deal. Todd set them on fire, and then he was on his way back into the city. Once he was on the highway, he took out his phone and dialed his father’s number from memory. It rang three times, and then his father accepted the call. “Hello…” he said.

"Dad! This is Todd. Where are you?"

“I’m at work,” Aaron replied. He sounded exhausted. "Do you want to travel?” he asked. “I booked a flight to France for you and your mother. You can travel for a while. Just don't come back without my permission... What do you say?"

“Maybe,” Todd replied. “I need to see you first, though.”

“I’m at work,” Aaron said again. “Why don’t you come to find me, okay? I miss you…”

“I miss you, too,” Todd replied. “I am on my way. Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.”

***

Aaron Bower groaned as he set down the phone. He was approaching fifty, but he looked like he was eighty, and felt like he was one hundred and ten. He was on the top floor of the building, looking down on the city, and he was wondering how he had let things get as bad as they were. If jumping from the building could have eased some of his family’s pain, he would have happily done so. Alas, though, it would not.

It was not long before Todd arrived, and Aaron watched as he entered the building. Then he went to meet him at the elevator.

As soon as Aaron saw Todd, tears began to well up in his eyes. They embraced, and then the older man led the younger to his office. It was right in the center of the floor, and the hallways that circled around it had been laid out like a labyrinth. Some of the offices had up to four doors, and your seniority determined how many doors you had access to. In this way, someone like Aaron could cross a floor in a couple of minutes. Whereas it could take a secretary fifteen or twenty minutes.

  Aaron’s office had numerous display screens hung on the wall. The screens showed images from D.S.G. branches all over the country, and he was happy to show his son everything that he had achieved.

As excited as his father was, though, Todd could see the despair in his eyes. He smiled softly and said, “Dad, I am going to need you to tell me what’s going on, and you can’t hold anything back…”

Aaron nodded.

“Let me speak first, though,” Todd continued. “Is it safe to speak here?"

This was the first time that Aaron had seen such a severe and mature expression on Todd's face. His son seemed to have grown up, and he was proud. He nodded and said, "It's safe here. Don't worry."

“Did you know that Jarod was planning on betraying you?” Todd asked. “His and his son are a couple of bastards, and the company is infested with spies and traitors!”

“I know everything,” Aaron admitted. “That is why I want you to go home right now and leave Edmonton with your mother. Please take care of her, and be careful. Okay..."