18- Listen up Team!

Tony

It’s been 17 fucking hours since we came to the labyrinth. Upon arriving, we all swiftly moved to Lucus’s office. Dominic sending us stats of what happened while we were all in the car. At the labyrinth, each of us have our own office up on the 2nd floor, but Lucus’s office was the biggest, plus we always seemed to migrate there anyway,

And though we own multiple warehouse locations all over, the labyrinth was one of our secureist properties we owned. When looking at it from the outside, it would look like any other building, except it wasn’t. It once used to be a military base. And technically it still was, except now we owned it. The warehouse itself was sectioned off into four large areas. One section was used as our interrogation room, another two were for training as well as dorms for our men and last but not least a room for my lab. The entire compound sat on 1000’s of undisturbed land. Even our home was located on the same property. It’s located just on the other side. Giving us exactly 55 minutes to drive to and from the house. So it’s ideally. Plus, we all tend to stay within the property never needing to leave except Grant when he needed to travel to the city.

Smiling, I move to think about my lab. It’s the next building over. When there, I’m the one in charge. The overseer of any and all inventions. Including but not limited to weapons and all things technology. My team not only designs but implements most of the weapons we trade. We also monitor any and all tech that goes on around the world. But of course, we only own the best when it comes to hackers, and compared to places like the CIA and Britain’s M16's, our hackers put theirs to shame. As Lucus and Grant find ways to exploit them and if that doesn’t work then Alex and his team are sent to make a statement. A loud yet colorful one if you catch my drift.

Stepping into the soundproof office, the office is decked out in all dark woods. Brown leather sofa’s sit neatly to one side. The other side holding a big wooden desk and chair.

“So what’s the plan Lu?” asks Alex as he moves to sit on one of the sofas, relaxing, twirling his favorite pocket knife as he did. Moving I move to follow suit, moving to take the chair while Grant takes the other sofa. Lucus leaning against his desk.

“Hm. Well, Alex and I are going to try extracting any and all information that we can. Grant, I want you to go over all the books with the accountant and see about covering the cost of the shit show. We also need to set up arrangements for those injured or killed and get in touch with our commanders. Tony, you're in charge of backing up whatever he needs. Have your team do another sweep, see if we can’t find anything else.” replies Lucus, deep in thought as he laid out the plan.

“Sure thing Boss” I reply. “I’ll also personally oversee the whole system check too. I’ll run some tests to see if anything got compromised or if we need any improvements to what we already have”.

Pulling out my phone, I move to send a quick message over to Ben, alerting him to grab the team. Because if anyone could do it, it was Ben. He wasn’t my second in command for nothing. He’s a complete badass and just as twisted as Alex, except instead of killing, he does it with a computer.

“Sounds good, lets move out” says Lucus with a final tone. Alex’s eyes lighting up like a kid at Christmas. Standing, he all but runs from the room. Heading for one of the many cells that we had.

Grant on the other hand takes a few more minutes on his phone before following. Moving I follow next as we both make our way out of the office. Locking the door as we did. Grant then proceeds towards his own office while I move to head downstairs, working my way through tunnels until I approach my brightly yellow hazard door. Placing my hand against the door, I move to scan my hand followed by my retinal before finally entering my password. Hearing the familiar click, my room opens.

Walking inside, the smell of coffee and burnt metal fills my nose. Ahh, home sweet home. My own personal playground. In which I had divided into four specific groups: Observation, Specialists, Testors and of course My Secret Co-Op’s team.

Currently, I have about 40 or so hackers on my team who all take shifts behind big huge monitors. Not only do they help oversee everything, they also help watch over all of our facilities around the world. Yet, it’s not so much as the security feed as it is the digital footprint. For in today’s world we can basically access anything we want or need within city limits. Their my eyes and ears of the bunch. My Specialists help me with designing all of our products, both legal and illegal. And trained to work directly with our high profile engineers.

My Secret Co-Ops Team are like my closest friends just outside of the guys. Typically they help oversee all the teams as well as help run the division smoothly. They also help with the legal and illegal side of the business. They’re also highly trained assassins as well as top tech guru’s.

Ben of course has only ever been the one to beat me at my coding skills. That was nearly 13 years ago. He found me in a way that no one had ever bothered to try. I’m not called Ghost for a reason, especially on the dark web. But his ass is great, just twisted. Plus he has mad skills and we pay him exceptionally well for his time.

“Okay, Listen up team!” I shout as I move to approach the center of the room. Those within the room are now giving me full attention. “As many of you know, we had a breach over in Italy, a couple of days ago. Three of our men were killed with 8 injured, 2 in which were critical. The main house destroyed. There’s also $60 Million in B class weapons stolen. The Bosses have three new play toys down in the hole. Observation, I want you to do another full sweep, no code left untouched. Specialists, I need you to help them. Search all of Europe if you have too. Someone must be chatting. Testors, I need our new body armor done and ready for Alex before the weeks up. Secret Co-Op team, control room, NOW!” I order, before heading for the big black doors over at the other end of the room.

With my Secret Co-Op team behind me, and doors closed, I move to tell them what I want done. There’s a traitor in our mitts and we need to find them and fast.

And so, here I am 17 hours later, while downing my 10th cup of coffee, checking and double checking all possible links that my Ops team was finding. Pulling any and all information that even remotely looked suspicious. A couple of new recruits that were stationed over in our European sector all seemed to be hitting similar numbers. Frowning, I move to message our commander over there, telling them to do a follow thru. Copying the ones I thought to be suspicious.

Deciding on taking a quick break, my mind slowly begins to wander over to our Bambina (Baby). Wondering what she’s up too I move to check on the cams. Yes, we have hidden cameras stationed all over the house, including her bedroom and bathroom. Can’t afford to take any chances. After all, we’re Mafia and we never truly trust.

Waiting for the cameras to boot, my heart instantly drops when they finally come into focus. Where was she? Beginning to panic, I move to scan her room until focusing on a figure on the floor. Unable to see, I move to a better camera. But what I see isn’t Isabella. No, it was one of our maids. And she was currently cuffed to the bed.

Realizing what must have happened, my heart begins to race, rage beginning to boil. Checking all the other cameras I move to spot two guards just outside her locked door. Moving to cheek the parameters, I see guards stationed everywhere outside, so where the fuck did she go?

Looking to Ben and Ameila, another one of my Secret Co-Ops team, I order them to help me look for Isabella. Ameila checking the grounds while Ben and I began searching all the past footage, starting from the time we had left her.

Scanning the footage, I finally spot it. Our little Principessa (Princess) managed to trick the maid and left. Clearly lucky as it was during a shift change. Following her movements I see her leave the house before dashing off into the woods. The time stamp placing her about 8 hrs ago. Shit! She could be anywhere by now. Looking towards the roads, I see nothing. Not good.

Jumping from my seat, I move to head straight for the basement. A guard spotting me as I ran, holding the door open as he did. Spotting Lucus covered in blood I quickly blurt out my next set of words. “Isabella Escaped!”