“How could you not know about this, Adrian?”
“How would you expect me to know about it, Vic?” Cain asked.
“You’re in charge! You’re the full time leader of the Fellowship. It doesn’t surprise me that I didn’t know, I can only put in time during the weekends. But you, you’re here every day, almost all the time.”
Cain snorted his contempt.
“Maybe once upon a time I could’ve kept track of the actions of every single Fellow, Victory,” Cain said, “Maybe back when we were run out of some guy’s basement, I might have been able to. But do you remember my speech about time? That was broadcast all over the globe. We’ve suddenly doubled, tripled, quadrupled in size, and there are local chapters springing up in every city in America, and a lot internationally. When there are a lot of people in an organization, Vic, some of them are bound to be criminals. The price you pay for success, Victory, is corruption.”
“Ben and Annie were there from the start,” Victory spat out, “They helped to build the Fellowship. I put my trust in them. Hell, Ben got me this uniform I’m wearing.”
Victory tugged disdainfully at his blue jacket. Cain stood up, stretched, and put a fraternal hand on Victory’s shoulder.
“And now they’re in jail. This problem’s taken care of.”
“And what about the other problems, Adrian? What about the ones that are bound to pop up sooner or later? What about the hatred and bigotry which we, despite our aims, have given a home to?”
“There will be no more bigots in this chapter,” Cain said with a finality and conviction that stunned Victory, “I will personally guarantee that. I can’t control every Fellow, but I can at least try to control every Fellow in Philly. Nothing which I don’t approve of will occur here. You have my word.”
“No murders, no beatings, not even jokes?”
“I swear it,” Cain confirmed.
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