Mike and his agent Rob went out of their hotel room in Spring Valley, not far away. They had just been in the tranquil, relaxed town for two days. They left for their 'work' as the night became darker. They arrived at a massive manufacturing facility that spanned acres. It was one of the Reiners' various bottling and food processing plants. Every night, hundreds of trucks loaded with soft drink bundles were delivered to warehouses, restaurants, stores, and hotels around the state.
At the production plant, it was just another night. The trucks were loaded and ready to go on their journey. One of the supervisors, Elliot, was on the ground, inspecting the vehicles and drivers before they left for deliveries. He checked his ledger when he reached the 9th truck in the lineup. The driver and his assistant were already inside, waiting for permission to depart. He could see their faces in the faint light. The man in the driver's seat wore his long brown hair in a ponytail. He also had sideburns and a nose that was exceptionally big. The second man was beardless and had red hair.



"I've never seen you around here before, are you new?" Elliot, the supervisor, inquired.
"We got the job this morning," the new guy continued, "and they asked us to report for duty tonight."



Elliot shrugged and scanned the visitors' name tags, which read 'Justin' and 'Chad.' He wasn't startled; blue-collar workers are accustomed to frequent job changes. He double-checked the ledger and found that everything was in order.



"Nice to meet you, Justin, and Chad, have you done work like this before?" As he ticked off their names, Elliot inquired.



Justin said, "Yeah, I used to do deliveries back in Texas."



"All well, then you're free to go."



The truck accelerated and exited the campus. They drove all night and came to a halt in a desolate warehouse. Mike and Rob exited the vehicle.



"We don't have a lot of time, so let's get this over with," Rob stated.



Packages of soft drinks with the same name and packaging as Reiner's goods were found inside the house. Mike and Rob methodically replaced many cartons with duplicate packages during the following few minutes.
Mike inhaled deeply and surveyed the 20 crates of soft drink strewn across the warehouse floor.

"What are we going to do with this?" he wondered.



"Of course, we burn them. That's what they'd told us to do." Rob retorted.



"It'll take hours, so wait here and smash these boxes while I take care of the unloading. I'll come get you later? What do you think?" Mike inquired.



"Okay, but please do it quickly, and thank you for your time. If you hadn't stepped in to help....then...." Rob appeared to be upset.



Mike took his hand in his and said, "Rob, you know how much I love you, and I can give my life for you. We're all in it together." He gave him reassurance.



"I wish things were different," Rob moaned, "I feel awful sometimes for leading you on and ruining your life......"



"Hey! Please don't say that "Mike responded. "It's not because of you. Let's finish this work and then we'll be free." Before leaving for the delivery, Mike gave Rob a firm hug.



The fresh goods inside the vehicle contained bottles of altered soft drinks. It was a simple enough job. They only needed to follow the trucks moving along certain routes for a few nights to observe where they would halt for cargo unloading. Eric and Marilyn had already given them the company uniforms and nametags. It was not their concern how they obtained them, and they would not have divulged it to them anyway. They were also given a number of modified soft drink packages. All they had to do was distribute them at random among several places. They had a minor quantity of pesticide in them, so it wasn't fatal, but it was enough to make the consumer very sick. Reiner's brand reputation, as well as many million lawsuit claims, would wreck the company by the time the copycat bottles were discovered. Mike had snatched the theatre's make-up kits and disguised himself. It was almost daybreak when Mike concluded his deliveries. On the way back, he picked up Rob. They returned to the warehouse facility but never punched out their cards because there were none to punch out. Hundreds of workers were too preoccupied to notice the two men quietly exiting the unit.
Mike and Rob were relieved to be able to return to their hotel after the nightmare finally ended. Mike was overcome with remorse as he laid on his bed. He reflected on what they had done. They had unwittingly become pawns for Eric and Marilyn. He had disappointed his lover, his friend, and his sister. He couldn't help himself, though. There were just too many innocent lives on the line.
Aiden would never have expected that Mike Scott would be the one to tarnish Reiners' name. Mike didn't hate Aiden; he just wanted to help Rob.



Mike remembered the first time he met Rob with fondness. Mike has been gay since he was a child. Rob was his high school theatre teacher. A respectable married father with two children. From the minute they met, they felt a strong attraction to each other. They finally got together soon before Mike graduated from high school. Rob had kept his sexual orientation hidden. Aside from their shared secret lives. Rob was a decent husband to his faithful wife, who was completely unaware of his secret. He was also a good agent at the theatre. Mike had come to acknowledge Rob as his mentor, a lover and a father, which he never had.


It was during one of Rob's visits to the theatre when Marilyn had caught them being intimate in one of the deserted makeup rooms. Unknown to them, she had recorded their tryst for 'fun'. The next day, Mike and Rob received the MMS of their 'act'. Mike had been furious and confronted Marilyn. She laughed it off, saying what if it went public? Mike was not bothered about his reputation because Leah was already aware of it, and he didn't mind coming out of the closet, but Rob had panicked. His family and reputation would have gone for a toss if the word got leaked. Marilyn refuses to delete the video, warning him to do her bidding.

Eric and Marilyn gave Mike the shock of his life when they called him one day and asked for Sydney's fingerprints. When he declined to do so, Eric threatened that if the necessity arose, he would not hesitate to go after his sister, Leah, or Rob's family. Mike didn't have much of an option except to cooperate. When Marilyn had implicated Sydney he had confronted her. She assured him that Sydney would just be deported to Australia where she would be out of Aiden's reach. All of her plans, however, were thrown out the window when Aiden Reiner, a wealthy businessman, arrived to save Sydney by proposing marriage. Aiden's attraction to Sydney was completely unexpected to her. At least Sydney was safe under Aiden's protection for a while. No matter how much Mike despised Aiden, he did get Sydney out of trouble.

Mike thought that maybe Marilyn and Eric would stop now. He still couldn't figure out why Eric was involved in all this. Couldn't he be just another minion? There was something deeper, something more sinister in this scheme of things.
Marilyn's fixation with destroying Sydney and her obsession with Aiden was far greater than he had thought. There was nothing he could do except wait and watch. Someone out there would eventually drink the contaminated soft drink, get sick and then the news would spread like wildfire about Reiner's soft drink, thus destroying their reputation.
Though Mike couldn't figure out the purpose of doing this. For now, he was trapped because of Rob and Leah.

"A penny for your thoughts?"



As he sat down next to him on the bed, Rob inquired.



"I was just wondering when it was all going to stop," Mike said, his gaze fixed on the ceiling.



"I'm divorcing my wife," Rob announced abruptly.



Mike was taken aback and turned to face him.



"But, Rob, you care about your family!"



"Yes, but I love you as well. I have been living a double life all this while. Look what it has led to? I can't do this anymore."Rob expressed his disappointment.



"It's not that simple, Rob," Mike explained. "Eric is a dangerous man who would still pursue us."



"Then we're going to flee. Maybe to a country where they won't be able to find us? Consider it, Mike: you could bring your sister along, and we could make a fresh start and go away from it all?" Rob exclaimed with glee.



"Your plan is really intriguing," Mike said with a smile. "Let me think about it."