Closer Than Your Shadow

Wool Over My Eyes

December 9th 10:43 p.m.
Gotham
Ace Chemicals

"They know. I'm not getting out of here. I'm fucking dead. My friend-," I said to the dark.

"How did they figure it out?"

"They must've known since the club. I'm fucked, I can't get out of this now!"

"There's a car parked south of the building. The keys are on the drivers side. Go to your apartment and take whatever will fit."

"And leave you?"

"This place isn't what you think it is. It's not safe."

"They brought me here to kill me. Just like Alex." I sounded choppy and unconvinced.

"It's not for the acid. And it's not an abandoned warehouse. It's for the people they take."

"The people?"

"Dom and Tony aren't just running drugs and guns anymore."

"What?" My lips pursed, and the denial was pushing down the sadness. But
guilt would always win over any other emotion I'd ever had. It was my fatal flaw. I always let my emotions crush me.

Even after Dom basically told me the same thing, I just couldn't believe the things I was hearing.

He was silent and I knew this was all too real. "Claire, I think the Maroni's are the ones taking people off the street."

Why the fuck would the Maroni's be the ones taking people off the street?

"What? That's not even on their radar."

"I got information that they're selling organs to the black market. They've been harvesting people. The waste goes into the vats. It's the perfect solution. I didn't know until today," he finished.

"You sound fucking insane!"

"Genisis."

"No," I whispered it and it rolled of my tongue like a bad word. "No."

"I would never lie to you about this. I didn't even want to tell you but you need to know their fucking bad people. They murder and kill anybody who doesn't listen to them. They killed Genisis and Alex."

"They took her? All those people?"

"They take them here. It's where they do the extractions."

"This is a fucking warehouse! They can't just pull organs out of people! How are they doing it?"

"Rayford's wife. She used to be a surgeon. That's the connection. I thought it was guns, but it had nothing to do with that. It was a front. Dom needed Gizelle Rayford. Not Arthur"

The empty streets and Ms. May's warning flashed in my mind. Repeatedly until the only thing I could think about was breaking Dom's neck for what he'd done. To Genisis and Alex. Probably to Lenny.

"Where have they been taking the people from? Off the street?"

"Mostly homeless people. Some people caught wind and started staying in groups. They resorted to taking kids."

I did nothing. I stood in that alleyway, and I just went back inside the bakery while Lenny was being hunted down.

"I know this isn't easy to take, but-," He stopped before he said it. "Dom's going away, I promise. I'll find Tony and get him for the same thing. But I can't do that if you're still here. Leave while they're busy. Jacob's knocked out. I'll handle Dom." His voice was coming from across the room, it seemed as if from every direction. "I need to finish this. Please, for once, listen to me and get out of here."