"Hello, Karl. May I call you Karl, or would Dionysus be your preferred name?" The man who spoke hadn't turned, his questions addressed to the cold glass before him.
Karl swallowed at hearing his pseudonym from the lips of a man he did not know, especially one who had police officers at his call. His wrists still felt heavy from the thick cuffs that had been used. "Master Gotson, actually. Seeing as I don't know who you are. May I sit?"
"Oh, please." The man stayed at the window, his hands clasped behind him, "Rather a shame you don't know me. I seem to know you. And your associates. And your businesses. The file on the desk, I believe you'll find it... exhaustive." He gestured at the inch-thick leather-bound ledger sitting on the desk, positioned in front of the only chair in the plush office, still not turning, a brief slip of light showing his clothing as a navy-blue suit and his hands to bear an even tan.
Karl opened the ledger, finding two sections within it, the first made from dossiers on himself and every one of his contacts in the city. Each was thorough, every address used, current and former; crimes sorted by felony, misdemeanour, proven, suspected, and hypothetical on every one of them; their associates divided by criminal, civilian, government, and mutuals marked in each category; every front, laundry op, and street dealer.
Even the one cop he'd managed to turn was listed, a secret Karl had believed was his alone.
"Macallan 12, right?" A glass was placed on the fine wooden desk, three fingers of amber scotch swirling gently, and Karl caught a glimpse of the watch the man wore, a silver Chopard XPS Twist if he had his guess right. He had to fight to keep the shake in his chest from showing in his hand as he sipped from the glass, weighty crystal, cool to the touch like it lived in a fridge, though none was visible.
The second half of the ledger had records even more detailed than his own, down to the penny; even on the street dealers and their buyers, each one's legal name was written out in full. Steeling himself before he spoke to this, shadow that seemed to know everything he had ever done, he sipped again from the glass. "How did you audit a cash business?"
A light chuckle came from across the desk as the silhouetted chair bounced lightly, "That's not the important question right now, is it? The question I thought you'd judge as most important is why we're even talking." The shadow paused its speaking, setting another crystal glass on the desk, empty, "That book, if the police could prove even a tenth of it in court, and they could, would shut down a third of the crime in this city. An organization you've built over four years, with shockingly little bloodshed."
"No-"
"Don't. That's a compliment; treat it as such." The shadow seemed to deepen around the chair, the light bounce ending as soon as Karl spoke, and he could feel eyes boring into him, their attention more disconcerting than even the ledger in his lap. "I want to offer you something, and in return, you'll operate only a smidgen differently, and crime could be cut by half to two-thirds?"
"You want in? If you can afford this", Karl hefted the ledger, "I'm not worth your interest."
Tutting gently, "Karl, Karl, Karl. I don't want 'in'. I want you in charge. A monopoly on crime could be yours, with only token opposition from the law if you'd agree to a couple rules. A gentleman's agreement if you will."
"No one has that kind of influence."
"I do." A soft click and a mellow spotlight turned on. Sitting across the desk from Karl was Mayor Volkton, smiling that heart-breaker grin of his for but a moment before it was gone, the shadow again between them. "You keep your drugs, your women, and everything else clean and professional, like any other business. We'll only pursue blatant crimes, the things that draw regular folks' attention, and occasionally bust your street dealers, or lower management if they can't keep their noses clean. Your competition gets full police attention, and maybe a few of your dealers get Witness protection if they'll fib about who their boss is. Deal?"
Great twist at the end. Karl seems like the type of guy who won't forget this bit of blackmail. Sure, he'll probably go with the proposal for now (not like he has a choice). But if what the guy said about Karl building a third of the city's crime empire in four years is true, I feel like a reckoning is inevitable.