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Micah had returned home to his apartment from the Spotlight a touch after three in the morning. Most of the time he would go out with the Vladi and Alex for breakfast at a local Coney Island restaurant after closing the club down. He was tired this time because business was booming last night. They literally had to call the beer and wine distributor at home and have a special delivery made so they did not run out of alcohol. It was all Micah could do to keep up. He had made very good money in tips for his efforts by keeping the alcohol flowing. Micah reached in his pocket to put his keys and a wad of cash in the bowl on the ledge between his kitchen and dining room. What he did not expect to find was the five-dollar receipt from the debit card machine in his pocket. He remembered it now and how panicked and indecisive the guy was about using the card. Was it stolen? He briefly thought about texting Roman and telling him about it but soon the need to sleep soon took precedent over any other additional thoughts. Micah Lee was sound asleep in under 5 minutes after laying down on his bed.
Shortly after 8:00 AM his phone vibrated and played a familiar ringtone. It was the Razin brothers calling from the club. Did something happen at the club after he left earlier in the morning? They usually never called or texted until early the next afternoon. A voice mail was left on his phone followed by a text. He picked up the phone and glanced at it with burning eyes from a lack of sleep. We need to see you at the club in the next hour and bring the receipt. Micah took a quick shower not bothering to shave and grabbed a cup of coffee before leaving to see what his employers needed so urgently.
Micah pulled into the parking lot of Spotlight shortly before 9:00AM. The Razin brothers each owned a new Mercedes and were parked up front. The lot attendants were picking up the lot and a power washing company was spraying down the lot behind them. A stray disabled car was being towed out of the parking lot to impound. The Razin brothers ran a class operation and it showed. He made his way to the office and knocked. Alex opened the door and Vladi was seated behind the desk.
“Micah, machine was short $5 receipt, and we were unable to balance it this morning.”
“It was in my pocket. I must have put it there last night by mistake we were so slammed behind the bar.”
The Razin brothers did not miss a cent when it came to business. They were notorious even as teenagers for challenging anyone who they thought were shorting them. Micah handed the crinkled receipt to Alex who glanced at it before giving it to Vladi.
“The card’s bin number does not look like one issued here anywhere.”
“Now I remember this guy gave me his card like he really didn’t want to part with it. Normal looking guy but you could tell he was never in a club before. I think I had to ask for payment like twice from him for the drink.”
“We trust you Micah. Your matter with police has been resolved. Video shown to assistant prosecutor from inside and out of club enough for them to drop charges. My brother and I very happy you care for club as much as we do.”
“I appreciate all your family has done for me when no one else would give me a chance.”
“We wanted to tell you in person we are giving you promotion. We would like you to oversee security for club. Hugo could have cost us everything. Your brother Roman took care of that for us coincidentally. We would have had relatives from Europe handle it if we had known earlier.”
“When do I start?”
“You started when you walked into the office. The rest of the security team already knows.”
“Your first assignment is to review camera footage from last night.”
“What am I supposed to be looking for?”
“The owner of this receipt. We noticed him last night watching a young woman. His actions seemed strange and he was focused only on her. Make no mistake Micah when it comes to club and business we are attentive to detail. Our success will only happen if club is safe for everyone. We promised your brother if we happened to notice something out of place we would tell him. Here is the user name and passwords to gain access you can view remotely on any device.”
Micah went back home and sat at his kitchen table. His laptop opened and powered on.
Micah logged into the surveillance system. He watched the activities from the previous night. The club was at capacity on every level. The lines were deep at each bar with some patrons drifting away from their place in line as their patience waned. Wait staff and bartenders alike were competing for drinks to serve at times. Micah found that he too was a victim of this as he had placed an open bottle of beer off to the side to accompany a mixed drink he was preparing. Brittany Davis had swiped it for the corner booth when she realized she was one short on the way. Micah smirked and shook his head. He wasn't losing his mind after all. He reached the footage right when Ned was approaching the bar. He then paused the frame and went into the kitchen to make some coffee. The guy looked normal enough.
Micah sipped his coffee, which was piping hot. He set the mug down next to the laptop and slid the cursor over and tapped play to continue watching. What was the big deal about using the debit card? Most everyone used their debit cards for their transactions at the club. The tips were built into the transaction and made it easy for everyone. Paying with cash was a pain having to take the time to go back and forth to the register and make change. You could lose out on a few tips with a cash payment. He watched as Ned took his drink and walked around the first floor casually looking for something or someone. Most everyone who came to the club were usually in a group or came there as a couple and sometimes didn’t leave there that way either. This guy showed up alone. Maybe he was meeting someone. He advanced the footage as Ned exited the elevator on the second floor. He noticed that he had made his way to a table along the wall directly in the view of the dance floor. Who was he looking for? The next few seconds of the footage revealed a short brunette standing in front the guy blocking his view of the dance floor. There was no audio but he could see their mouths moving and some gesturing so it was obvious there was conversation between them. The guy with the neat brown hair seemed to lean and peer around the girl while talking to her. What was he looking at? The next piece of footage showed that the dance floor began to empty a bit and a group of girls had retreated to a booth directly across from him next to the dance floor. Micah kept panning back and forth between two cameras on the 2nd level. A young blonde female had taken out her cell phone out of her purse and the light of it exposed her identity. Micah recognized her instantly as a regular but did not know her name. He slowly panned over to the guy at the table who stood up once the phone lit up. So that is who he was looking for. What happened in the next minute or so puzzled Micah because the guy didn’t go over and talk to her like any other normal guy would even if he got rejected. He had seen far less pull some amazing women during his time at the club and could still never figure it out. The guy took out his own cell phone as he approached the elevator to take it down to the 1st floor. Micah watched the movements of his assignment all the way out the front doors where he disappeared into the dark corner of the parking lot. He went back to the camera on the young blonde and her group of friends. She was now gone! What in the hell he thought to himself. He rewound the footage as the blonde appeared to be reading something on her phone and stood up and went toward the elevator. Maybe it was her boyfriend and he was spying on her. There was no shortage of that kind of drama at the club either. The Spotlight could have had its own reality show if they wanted it. The blonde stumbled out in the parking lot and took off her heels and walked towards the back of the same area in the parking lot where the debit card guy had gone. The lights from the car parked in the corner flashed on and off a few times. The exterior cameras were not as high quality as the interior ones. Micah watched as a car exited the rear corner of the dark lot a few moments later. A couple near the car when it exited the lot had waved and looked at each other and shrugged as the vehicle left out of view. Micah went all the way back to the beginning and used the snipping tool to capture the images of the debit card guy with the brown hair and the blonde whose phone lit up her appearance. He also got a picture of the car but could not read the license plate as the quality was not that good. He then saved them to a file and texted his brother.
“Have something to show you from the club last night and I need your email address.”