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[Tristan Hayes (Tristan Gemello)]
[Current identity: Criminal. Second identity: Pop-star.]
[Pop-star rank: Contracted Young Star.]
[Criminal rank: Made Man.]
[Pop-star Points: 0]
[Criminal Points: 1030]
[===Attributes===]
[Appearance: 150]
[Charisma: 238]
[Fearsomeness: 136]
[Strength: 223]
[Dexterity: 228]
[Toughness: 144]
[===Skills===]
[Singing: 1357]
[Dancing: 1079]
[Playing guitar: 1495]
[Music theory: 680]
[Music production: 523]
[Acting: 813]
[Songwriting: 1234]
[Voice control: 811]
[Stage presence: 763]
[Playing piano: 801]
[Video editing: 217]
[Styling: 506]
[Playing flute: 1]
[Playing violin: 1]
[Ding!]
[Fearsomeness attribute increased from 136 to 236.]
A change went through Tristan's body. Nothing noticeable changed, but his gaze flashed with unnerving intensity. The air of danger around him sharpened, becoming much more real.
Then Tristan forcefully relaxed his posture, diminishing this aura to something that made him look less like a gangster and more like a delinquent.
He smiled, as always especially satisfied after spending a large sum of points at once.
'Time to earn more Pop-star Points for the upcoming contest. I want my performance to be shown not just on state TV, but on the American main TV channels, and this means I will have to perform not just well... but stunningly well!'
***
This evening.
Cuatro Angulos' former drug-selling channels within the city were now fully under King Lion Gang's control. Those dealers that didn't bow their heads were disposed of and replaced. Almost all drugs from the Cuatro Angulos haul were either sold or already scheduled to be.
With the new resources and one of their major rivals removed from the city map, King Lion Gang was rapidly increasing in size and influence. It was dominating the city, and it was only a matter of time until they had total control of it.
Right now, smaller gangs could run around it like scavengers looking for scraps from the lion's meal, but Leon Clavon already began absorbing them into King Lion Gang's ranks.
More people, though, meant more work to organize them all. To make sure that all who needed to pay, paid; all who needed to be paid were paid; no one in the gang had to stay homeless or go hungry; and punish anybody who caused unrest.
That work stably took at least a few hours of Tristan's time daily, even with the help of other people.
There was a knock on the office's door. Tristan immediately knew who was on the other side—for one thing, his secretary was ordered to let in very few people without informing Tristan beforehand. And most of them didn't knock.
"Come in!"
A young man called Kevin walked in. Recently, Tristan decided he was more useful in the administrative part of business than on field missions. The last task Kevin was given had related to dealing with information traces left by Cuatro Angulos before they left the city.
In his hands, Kevin carried a flash drive, which he put on Tristan's table.
"I apologize for coming without warning, Mr. Hayes, but there's been a development with the stuff we discovered at Dagoberto Quixada's office. I mean, not a development. We just found something good."
Tristan raised his brows in surprise.
"Really? But he destroyed almost all the documents before leaving. At least, that's what YOUR report said."
"He did, but there was a smashed computer in it all. I wasn't sure this would work, so I didn't tell you before—but I went to a computer repair shop and asked them to recover files from the hard drive."
Tristan leaned forward with interest.
"And?"
"The hard drive was completely untouched. Quixada just smashed the computer monitor..."
Kevin smirked, and Tristan chuckled, too. Quixada knew nothing about computers, apparently.
"The hard drive worked again as soon as it got plugged to another computer. I had gone through the documents there and copied everything that can be important to this flash drive, Mr. Hayes."
"Amazing! You will get a bonus. Next time, though, tell me about plans like these beforehand... I don't like surprises, even pleasant ones."
Kevin shifted uneasily under Tristan's frown, but his eyes shone greedily at the mention of money.
"Yes, Mr. Hayes."
"Now tell me—what exactly did you find, Kevin?"