Chapter 709: The end of the Duo ?

The rumour had been spreading for weeks, and even after the people behind Michael and Silas investigated it and confirmed that the story was false, the damage refused to disappear. Their contacts had checked with people inside the prison, made discreet enquiries through their own channels, and found no reliable evidence that either man had agreed to cooperate with the authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence. Michael had not exposed the people he once worked for, and Silas had kept to the arrangement that promised him protection and comfort in prison.

For a short while, those findings seemed enough to settle the matter. The people responsible for protecting the two men assumed the story would lose its appeal once word spread that it had no foundation, but the opposite happened. More conversations began taking place behind closed doors, and people who had previously accepted the arrangement without question started asking whether Michael and Silas could still be trusted. Some wanted reassurance, while others wanted to know why the rumour had appeared at such a sensitive time.

The men behind the network were not strangers to threats, and they understood that rumours could be useful weapons even when they were false. What troubled them was the persistence of this particular story. Whoever had started it had access to enough information to make it believable, and the continued circulation suggested that someone was deliberately keeping it alive. Their own investigation had disproved the central claim, but it had not identified the person responsible.

At a private meeting attended by several influential members of the network, the discussion moved beyond the rumour itself. They had gathered because the situation was beginning to affect their own security, and nobody wanted to leave without a decision. One of the men placed a folder on the table, opened it, and pointed to several documents that had recently circulated among their contacts. The records did not prove that Michael and Silas had spoken to the authorities, but they connected people within the network to dealings that had once been handled through the two men.

"We checked the story, and we know they haven’t made the deal people are talking about," one man said. "That should have been the end of it, but somebody keeps pushing it. Now people are asking questions they weren’t asking before."

A second man examined the documents before returning them to the folder. "The person behind this wants us to believe Michael and Silas are talking, but the person may not care whether we believe it or not. The point could be to make us nervous enough to act."

"Act against our own people because of a rumour?" another asked. "We have already confirmed that it is false. If we start making decisions every time someone tries to frighten us, we will create problems for ourselves."

The man at the end of the table had remained quiet while the others spoke. He had known Michael for years and understood how much information the former businessman had handled on behalf of the network. Silas had been even more deeply involved in its financial arrangements, and both men knew enough to cause serious trouble if they ever decided that silence was no longer worth the price. Their agreement had been simple: the network would help keep them comfortable and protected inside prison, and they would not expose the people who had helped them.

"You’re looking at the wrong part of the problem," he said. "We know the rumour is false, but we don’t know who is spreading it or what that person intends to do next. Those documents didn’t appear from nowhere. Somebody has access to information that should never have reached the public."

The room became quieter as he continued. The possibility that someone outside the network was deliberately testing their response had become difficult to dismiss, particularly because the material being circulated contained details that only a limited number of people would recognize. If more records emerged, the network could find itself dealing with questions from investigators, financial institutions, and people who had spent years believing their own involvement would never be exposed.

One of the men suggested that they should strengthen their protection arrangements and wait for the pressure to pass. He argued that Michael and Silas had honoured their agreement so far, and there was no reason to assume they would suddenly betray everyone because somebody had invented a story about them. Killing two high-profile prisoners would also attract attention, and an investigation into their deaths could create the very exposure they were trying to avoid.

His argument received little support from the others. They had spent years making decisions based on risk, and they no longer believed that keeping Michael and Silas alive offered the safer option. The two men had lost their businesses, their money, and most of the influence they once possessed, but they still carried information that could damage everyone connected to them. Their protectors could not be certain that the arrangement would hold forever, particularly if the pressure continued.

"If they stay alive, we have to keep worrying about what they might do tomorrow," another man replied. "We are already spending time checking whether they have betrayed us. Even when the answer is no, somebody else can start the same story again next week."

"They haven’t betrayed us," the first man reminded him.

"That is what we know today. It doesn’t tell us what we will know next month, and it doesn’t tell us what the person behind this pressure has planned. More so whats the guaranteethat it wont be a cop that is investigating one of our cases and pffer them a reduced sentence then what..."

The meeting continued for some time, with each person weighing the danger of acting against the danger of doing nothing. Nobody spoke about loyalty as though it were something sacred. The arrangement had always been built on mutual benefit, and the men around the table were now deciding whether that benefit had ended. Eventually, the discussion reached a conclusion that none of them intended to reconsider once the decision had been carried out.

Michael and Silas would no longer be protected.

The men responsible for the arrangement agreed that both prisoners had become liabilities, and they would make sure neither remained alive to become a greater threat. They understood the risks of what they had decided, but the possibility of losing control over their secrets frightened them more than the consequences of abandoning the two men. Once the meeting ended, each participant returned to his own business, leaving the decision to be carried out through the same prison connections that had once ensured Michael and Silas could live in relative comfort.

****

Inside the prison, neither man knew that the arrangement had changed. Their lives had settled into a routine that allowed them to avoid many of the hardships faced by other inmates, and they had grown accustomed to the presence of people who made sure their requests were handled. The comfort was limited by the walls around them, but after losing almost everything outside, they had come to depend on the privileges they retained.

Michael noticed the first signs of trouble when a request that would normally have been handled without delay remained unanswered. He made another enquiry later that day and received a vague response from someone who had previously been willing to speak openly with him. The explanation was ordinary enough, but the change in attitude stayed with him.

When he saw Silas later, he mentioned it while they were discussing the latest news about their former record label. The acquisition had been completed, and Dayo’s company now controlled the business they had once believed would remain a source of wealth and influence for years. Michael still found it difficult to accept that the label was gone, while Silas was more concerned about what remained of the network of assets and relationships they had built around it.

"Have you heard from anyone outside?" Michael asked. "I tried to get a message through earlier, but the response was different from what I expected."

Silas continued reading the information in front of him before answering. "Different how?"

"They gave me an excuse and told me not to worry about it. Normally, they would tell me what was happening. Today, they wanted to end the conversation."

"Maybe they are tired of hearing about the same things. We have been asking questions for weeks, and there isn’t much they can do for us from outside."

Michael was not convinced. He had spent decades managing information and dealing with people whose public explanations rarely matched their private intentions. "That may be true, but the timing is wrong. The rumour is still going around, and now the people who promised to protect us are becoming difficult to reach."

Silas put the papers aside and considered what Michael had said. He had always understood that their arrangement depended on the network believing they would remain silent, but he had assumed that their knowledge made them too valuable to discard. They had kept their side of the bargain, and he saw no reason for their protectors to change the terms without warning.

"They investigated the rumour themselves," Silas replied. "They know we haven’t said anything. If they were going to abandon us, they would have done it when the story first appeared. They have too much to lose by leaving us exposed."

"What if they think the person spreading it will keep going until they do something?" Michael asked. "They may believe the rumour is false and still decide we’re becoming too dangerous to keep around."

Silas did not answer immediately. The idea irritated him because it suggested that the people he had relied on might make a decision based on fear rather than the terms they had agreed upon. He had spent years negotiating with people who believed they could protect themselves by controlling everyone around them, and he knew how quickly those relationships could change when the balance of power shifted.

"We haven’t broken the agreement," he said at last. "That is what matters. If they have any sense, they will understand that killing us creates more problems than keeping us alive."

Michael wanted to believe him, but he had begun to question the value of the promises they had received. Their protectors had helped them because they believed the arrangement served their interests. If that calculation changed, the two prisoners had very little they could do to force them to honour it.

The days continued without any open confrontation, which made it easier for Silas to dismiss Michael’s concerns. They still received their meals, spoke with the inmates they knew, and spent time in the parts of the prison where their privileges allowed them to move. Nothing happened that could prove their protection had been withdrawn, and neither man wanted to admit how much they depended on people they could no longer reach directly.

By the time the next weekend arrived, they had returned to a familiar routine. The prison’s common areas were busy, and several groups of inmates gathered to talk, play games, or watch a programme on the television. Michael and Silas spent part of the afternoon among people who treated them with a degree of respect because of their connections, even though their convictions had removed most of the authority they once possessed.

Michael was speaking to one of the men nearby when the conversation returned to the rumours. The other inmate had heard that people outside were still discussing the possibility that Michael and Silas might provide information to investigators. He did not accuse them of anything, but he wanted to know whether there was any truth to the story.

"There is no deal," Michael told him. "Someone made that up, and the people who needed to know the truth have already checked it. I have no reason to make promises to people who have done nothing for me."

The inmate accepted the answer without pressing him further, but Michael could tell that the explanation had not settled the wider concern. People inside the prison were hearing the same reports as those outside, and each repetition gave the story another opportunity to spread. Even the men who believed Michael had told the truth could not explain why the rumour had continued after being disproved.

Silas joined him later, and they decided to leave the common area for a quieter part of the prison. Neither was interested in spending the rest of the afternoon answering questions about a story that had already been investigated. They intended to take some time for themselves before returning to their usual routine, unaware that the people who once protected them had already decided they would not be allowed to finish the day.

As they made their way toward the washroom, several inmates moved through the same corridor. The place was not unusual for them, and neither Michael nor Silas gave the gathering much attention. They had seen the same men around the prison before, and the presence of familiar faces reinforced their belief that the arrangement protecting them remained intact.

Inside the washroom, the ordinary noise of the prison continued beyond the door. Michael was occupied with his own thoughts when he noticed that the men who had followed them were not leaving. Before he could ask what they wanted, the atmosphere changed, and the group moved against both prisoners at once.

The first moments were confused. Michael tried to push away from the men surrounding him, while Silas attempted to reach the doorway, only to find more inmates blocking his path. The people they had trusted to keep them safe were now among those closing in, and there was no warning or explanation that either man could use to understand what was happening.

They were overwhelmed by the number of people involved. Blows landed from different directions, and neither man could find a clear way out of the crowd. Michael called out for someone to stop the attack, but the noise and movement around him swallowed his words. Silas tried to fight back, yet each attempt to get free brought more people against him, and the men surrounding them showed no intention of letting either prisoner escape.

The attack became more severe as the crowd pressed them down. Both men were stabbed during the assault, and their strength began to fail as the people around them continued striking and kicking them. The men responsible did not stop to explain the decision that had brought them there. They had come to end the lives of two people they considered dangerous, and they acted with the understanding that the old arrangement was finished.

Michael fell first, unable to keep himself upright as the crowd closed around him. Silas went down nearby, still trying to push someone away from him, but he could no longer get to his feet. Their attackers continued until both men were left on the floor, badly wounded and unable to defend themselves. The violence that had begun in a matter of seconds had stripped away the remaining control they believed they possessed over their own lives.

When the crowd finally moved back, neither man could rise. The attackers left them where they had fallen, and the noise from the rest of the prison carried on beyond the washroom. Michael was struggling to remain conscious, while Silas lay close enough to see that his former partner was in no better condition than he was.

For the first time since the attack began, Michael could hear his own breathing. He tried to move, but the pain forced him to stop, and the effort left him with little strength to do anything else. Across from him, Silas attempted to speak, but the words did not come clearly. They had spent years believing that money, information, and the right relationships could keep them safe, yet none of those things could help them now.

Michael turned his head slightly toward Silas, trying to determine whether he was still conscious. The two men had fought over business, influence, and decisions that had cost them both dearly, but their final situation was the same. They were trapped on the floor of a prison washroom, abandoned by the people who had once promised to protect them.

Silas managed to look in Michael’s direction. There was no opportunity for either man to ask what had happened or to bargain for a different outcome. The people who had attacked them were gone, and the silence that followed left them with the knowledge that no one was coming to restore the arrangement they had trusted.

Footsteps approached the doorway, and a man entered the washroom after the attackers had moved away. He looked down at Michael and Silas without showing any urgency, then crouched near enough for both men to hear him. Michael’s eyes were beginning to close, and Silas was struggling to keep his own open as the stranger delivered the message he had come to give.

"Your greed brought you here," the man said quietly. "Dayo sends his regards."

Michael’s eyes opened a little wider at the name, and Silas tried to turn toward the speaker. Neither man had enough strength to respond properly, but the message reached them before their remaining awareness faded. They understood that Dayo’s name had followed them to the end, though neither could know the full extent of what had happened outside the prison or how the pressure had reached the people who once protected them.

The man stood and left the washroom without offering another word. Michael and Silas remained where they had fallen, their lives slipping away as the prison continued around them. The men who had carried out the attack had already withdrawn, and the two former power brokers could do nothing more to change the outcome.

It was only when other prisoners raised the alarm that the prison’s ordinary routine began to break apart. Officers hurried toward the washroom, followed by staff who tried to understand what had happened. The discovery of two high-profile inmates lying badly wounded in the same place would bring immediate scrutiny, and the prison could not treat the incident as an ordinary fight between prisoners.

Medical assistance was called, and the area was secured while officers began asking who had been present and what had led to the attack. The first accounts were confused, with people describing a sudden confrontation and others claiming they had heard a commotion without seeing how it started. Nobody offered a clear explanation that could settle the matter immediately, and the authorities were left to establish how so many inmates had become involved in an assault that ended with both men dying.

The news did not reach Dayo until later. He was at home when a report came through the private monitoring channel he had used to follow the situation, and he read the message without sharing it with Felix or anyone else. The report confirmed that Michael and Silas were dead, but it did not provide every detail of what had happened inside the prison.

For a while, Dayo remained seated with the report in front of him. He had known that the rumour would create pressure within the network, and he had understood that the people protecting Michael and Silas might eventually decide they were no longer worth the risk. He had chosen to keep the pressure alive even after the original story had been disproved, knowing that the uncertainty could force their protectors to reconsider the arrangement.

The deaths were the result of a decision made by other people, but Dayo could not honestly tell himself that he had played no part in what followed. He had wanted Michael and Silas to lose the protection that had allowed them to feel secure, and he had created circumstances that made their allies afraid of what might be exposed. The people who carried out the attack had made their own choice, yet Dayo understood why the situation had reached that point.

His thoughts moved briefly to Jennifer and the fear he had felt when he learned that someone had taken his daughter. The memory remained difficult to face, and he had promised himself that he would never again allow Michael, Silas, or the people connected to them to threaten his family. That promise had become part of the reason he was willing to cross lines he would once have considered unacceptable.

Dayo closed the report and returned it to its place. He had no intention of telling Felix what he had set in motion, and he would not give anyone a reason to connect him to the decision made inside the prison. Michael and Silas would never threaten his family again, but the way their story had ended was something he would have to carry with him, whether he chose to admit it or not.