Chapter 61: Inside Job

 Meanwhile in the president's office in state house the president was with Ray in a highly secret meeting. He even asked his secretary to take break till he's done and no one, not even his wife was to be allowed into the office. All surveillance systems in the office were shut down following the president's strict orders to make sure that no one would ever know what transpired in the meeting room

"Mr president" Ray said as he took a seat

"Ray,always a pleasure" Loki said as he shook his hand,he went over to his private mini bar in the office where he put around two to three ice cubes in two separate glasses ," whiskey or scotch?" He asked

"Whiskey will do" Ray answered

"Allow me to put you one of the most expensive whiskey you will find in the market" Loki said as he handed Ray his glass, "it's so unique that the manufacturers only had about less than one hundred bottles produced,so far I have ten of them" he continued as he took a medium sized bottle from the counter. The neck of the bottle was thin with a wide base that made it look like a teardrop but now with a flat base and a long slender neck. He turned around and poured him the drink

"So you basically have ten percent of their most prestigious whiskeys" Ray said as he looked at the whiskey in his glass as if he was wondering why such a drink would be so special," how much was one bottle?" He asked

"Around one hundred grand" Loki said as he put it back on the counter

"A hundred grand for just one bottle?" Ray asked surprised at the lump sum cash just for a bottle of whiskey

"Taste it, you'll see why it's worth that much" Loki said as he was heading back to his seat. Ray brought the glass close to his lips but before he took the first sip,he smelled it first and was hit by the heavy liquor scent

"That's heavy" he said just before tasting it, once he swallowed the first gulp his reaction could tell what he had tasted. He closed his eyes and let the taste to explode in his mouth as his taste buds came to life. " Ooh yeahh, that hit the right spot!" he exclaimed

"I told you it hits the right spot" Loki said as he started drinking his, " now,shall we get down to business?" He asked

"Sure,I mean that's why I'm here in the first place" Ray said

"So,any leads yet on our country's most popular sniper?" Loki asked

"All we keep getting from the forensic department is that the bullets used in every incident are homemade. Best update so far is that they are made from a professional because making a bullet is one thing,but getting the accuracy on the size,shape,weight, that takes more than just practice. You can't learn that kind of stuff just from the internet. I mean this guy is literally saying he's a god in physics. I mean how the hell do you make a bullet and be able to have it so damn good that it goes through the air perfectly such that it goes where the sniper wanted it to go. I don't want to make it sound dramatic or anything,but his bullets were like puppets,and our Russian roulette,he was--"

"--The puppet master" Loki said as he looked at Ray

"Exactly!" Ray exclaimed

"Let me get this clearly,so still no update on the Russian roulette apart from he's too good at his job such that the only intel we have have on him is a perfect CV of a deranged lunatic who would make the marines look like kindergarten students and the special military school look like a camping trip. Apparently,he also has fun making us look like complete idiots. Is that what you are trying to say to me?" Loki asked

"Well I wouldn't put it that way but no matter how you look at it,you will still end up on that conclusion. So yes, that's all we have for now. But someone in one of the debriefing meetings said something worth listening to. He was a profiler,he said something along the lines of ' he's not doing it all for fun, people like this are too smart to waste their energy on fun. Be prepared for anything.' I believe that were his actual words" Ray said

"How do you prepare for the unexpected?" Loki asked genuinely curious on how to approach such a matter but there was an awkward moment of silence as Loki looked at Ray

"Ooh, you're waiting for me to give you an answer? Ray asked after realizing that Loki was actually waiting for an answer

"Well, you're the commander of Sin City's police department so please tell me what the hell we should be doing to be ready for him. Just name it and I'll have it done" Loki said 

"To be honest this guy gives me the cold shivers down my spine, so just increase police presence in the city and probably hope for the best" Ray said

"Hearing that from a man working for the state gives me great joy" Loki said sarcastically

"You wanted my recommendation, and you got it" Ray defended himself

"I can't have any more of this,tell me about the mayor" Loki said

"Well he is getting better by the day. Only thing that he has to worry about is the half palm with a hole" Ray said

"So we have the Messiah in Sin City,I wonder where is the doubting Thomas" Loki said with a smirk

"Funny,but we're glad that the Russian roulette wanted to send a warning" Ray said

"Well this guy has a damn weird way of sending warnings, first the three agents that we sent,then the mayor,I'm convinced that he could take me on if he wanted" Loki said

"He actually almost did that,don't forget at the hospital" Ray told me

"Oh yeah, that time. Tell me about Magraff now," Loki tried to change the topic as he didn't want to debate on how a whole president was under the mercy of a guy behind a trigger

"So he will be arraigned in court this Friday, so far so good" Ray said

"And everything is going as planned?" Loki asked

"Yes,that's why I said so far so good. The team has everything in place to make sure that Magraff goes to jail for the rest of his life" Ray answered

"I'm sure you know who we are going against on this,LA associates isn't just going to be a pushover, Alpha always seems to have something under his sleeve" Loki said

"That's why we have an insurance policy" Ray said

"You actually succeeded in getting our guy on our side?" Loki asked

"With the right amount of money you can buy anyone these days" Ray answered as he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He put the phone on the table and hit loudspeaker just as the person answered the call

"Hello" Ray said out loud

"Hello" came the reply. To Loki's surprise it was a woman's voice that he heard

"I'm here with the president,do you mind telling him not to worry about the case" Ray said

"Mr president,as we speak I have everything that we need to make sure that LA associates crumbles to the ground on Friday. So just sit back relax and enjoy" the woman said

"Now with that said,I need you to keep this on the down low since she isn't technically supposed to even talk to you or me until the court hearing is over" Ray said with a smile as he ended the call

"Well then,with that said. Let's just wait for this downfall,shall we?" Loki asked rhetorically