The Enigma's Anomaly

Nah, Too Simple

"Hold on you recorded it?" Gerard asks after hopping into the car. He grabbed whatever he could from our hotel room in one go, but we can't even afford to waste the amount of time it'd take to check out. That's not a good lesson for kids, don't do that, it's not smart. Buy my book: Obvious Life Tips That You'd Have Probably Been Able to Figure out Yourself by Frank Iero.

"Yes, but that's not going to completely cut it, Gerard."

"What do you mean? We have proof that he's a murderer. That's gotta mean something."

"Yes, it does mean something, but it doesn't mean we've won yet," I tell him, "see what we now have is something to even the playing field, but you've got to understand, that if we tell Banks that we're going to hand what we know over to the police, then he's going to have absolutely no reason to keep Mikey alive."

"What? Yes he does!" Gerard says.

"No, Gerard. He doesn't. Banks is looking at the needle where he stands. If I turn over the evidence I have against him there's a chance that he's going to be put to death, so one more body is not going to do anything to worsen his arrangement. Killing Mikey isn't going to make him any more or less likely to get the short end of the stick. He's basically got nothing to lose unless we can bargain with him."

"Bargain with him? What do you mean by bargaining with him?" Gerard asks, exasperatedly, as I pull us onto the highway. I don't actually know where we're going to go, but away from here is a good start.

"I mean exactly that. We have to strike a deal. One way or another we have to save Mikey, but Banks isn't an idiot. He's going to know that this is going to be the biggest negotiation of his life. We have a balanced weight on both of our sides. On the one hand, we have proof enough that could get Banks to go to jail for the rest of his life, if he's lucky. On the other hand he has your brother. If we turn over what we know to the police, Mikey is dead, without a second thought. To get Mikey back we're going to have to hand over something else that will keep the playing field on even ground, and he's going to likely ask for the recording, but he knows that we're going to have a backup copy."

Gerard nods, trying to understand it all, "so if he knows we have a backup copy that we can turn over at any time, then what's stopping him from killing Mikey right now. If he knows there's no way for him to really win, then why does he keep himself playing?"

"Because he's waiting to see what we option off for the deal. We have a balanced weight, but it is still leaning in favor of us. What we need to do is find ground that is agreeable to both parties. We need to insure Banks' safety, while also letting him feel like it's an even enough trade. I don't know what we have to offer him yet though. If Banks so much as senses disloyalty on our part, Mikey's neck will be snapped."

"So what do we do then?"

"Well that's the question of the hour isn't it? We're winning, marginally, but because of the fact that we are winning, Banks is the actual winner."

"You've lost me," Gerard says.

"Well we have waterproof evidence against Banks, and he knows that now. We have a recording of his confession to several murders, as well as a kidnapping. Because of the fact that we have that, and are currently winning, Banks is, by default, the ultimate winner. He knows that what we have is better than what he has, so he has no real reason other than curiosity to keep Mikey alive. If he decides that we're untrustworthy, which is his most likely brain process, then he's going to just kill Mikey and settle with a life in jail. If by some means, he manages to find an ounce of humanity in his head, then he'll realize that we care more about getting Mikey back then we do about getting him arrested."