“I have to go and take care of something.” I walk past her to pick up my laptop bag. “I might not be back today, so lock up my office when you leave.”
I reach into my drawer for the warehouse floor plan. If I can study this, I might be able to know where the intruders broke in from. I put that in my bag and return to her.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Prepare the minutes of the meeting for me, I’ll have it tomorrow.”
I give her a smile that she returns before I walk out of the office.
She seems to be the only positive thing about my day. My mind is still going a mile a minute trying to figure out the warehouse situation.
*******
I haphazardly park my car between two cars and step out before slamming the door behind me. True to Ivan’s words, the warehouse has been raided. It’s not obvious from the front, but the windows on the first floor have been removed when I look up. The door is also ajar, and Ivan walks through it towards me.
“How did this happen?” I ask.
“I don’t know …”
“What the fuck do you mean by you don’t know, Ivan?” I ask angrily. “You’re the head of security here. How did a gang of people break in without your knowledge?”
We start walking into the warehouse.
“I was tailing one of Victor’s men when Greg called and gave me the news.”
“So, you weren’t here when it happened?”
He’s about to answer when something catches my eye.
I walk towards the wall and inspect it before I speak.
“This is a bullet hole,” I note.
“Yes, Boss.”
“Meaning this wasn’t just a group of rebellious teenagers,” I deduce. “Whoever did this had intent.”
The usually bustling warehouse is now quiet, and shards of glass and wood are scattered everywhere.
“Where are the rest?” I ask while inspecting with my eyes.
“They are upstairs,” Ivan informs me.
I nod and squat when something else on the floor catches my eye.
My finger traces the red crimson liquid on the floor, and I can instantly tell it’s blood.
There was bloodshed, which means this person wants something other than just the warehouse.
Our hideout is cloaked as a warehouse, it looks normal from the outside. In all our years, we’ve not raised any suspicions or even had any inspection done here, making me more shocked about the sudden raid.
“Let’s check out the basement,” I suggest.
Ivan nods, and we both go down the stairs to the basement. The basement usually smells like blood and flesh, but it’s even more pungent this time.
I insert the code, and the doors click open. Ivan turns the only bulb on, revealing what is left of my men.
“What the fuck!”
There are bodies everywhere that I recognize to be my men. They’re sprawled out on the floor. Some with bullet wounds in different areas and some with knife slashes in their necks. Everywhere I turn, there’s more. What I can deduce is that they weren’t killed here. Only a few of them worked in the warehouse as cover for what happened down here, so they were killed upstairs and their bodies dragged here, which explains the blood I saw.