[blacklooksgreat]

I don't fault your story or intentions, but this quote:

"That all sounds like bullshit to me. I was there, I looked in the partners' eyes, they weren't bluffing. They were trying to help us"

Really rings hollow with me. You may have believed you could stare into their soul to know their being, but these guys eat people like you for breakfast. You wouldn't see a knife to the back coming, so don't think you could look in their eyes and know they weren't bluffing.