CROSSROADS

CHAPTER 3 - Rat Extermination

NATE

24 January, 2020

14:45 Warehouse

~~~~~

I arrived at the warehouse at the outskirts of town. The crunch of gravel under my boots as I step out of my truck is the only noise that you'll hear. This area is partly secluded because of the tall trees surrounding it, hence why I bought this property. Just the perfect spot to hide things I don't want to be seen by others.

Some of my boys guard this area, for safety reasons. This warehouse is mostly used to hide all the chopped parts from stolen vehicles. And we don't want that to be discovered, right? Especially with the police. Well, some of them.

The other reason? I am here for that "other" reason.

One of my boys that is patrolling the area saw me and nodded at my direction as I nodded back to greet him. They don't usually patrol on foot to cover all grounds within this two acre property. My lovely boo already set motion sensor alarms, hidden cameras with night vision and even hidden mics around the land. Having a genius tech always comes in handy. But we have some special guests inside our warehouse today, so we need to be extra careful.

It's quiet outside the warehouse but once I got inside, I heard a lot of noise. All my boys are busy working. They are either cutting metals or melting it or doing something else. Walking inside, you'll see the scattered chopped vehicle parts. Tires and rims, third row seats, batteries, tailgates, stereo systems, you name it we got it. But I'm not here to check the inventory. I'm headed to the farthest room in this warehouse, the interrogation room, because calling it the torture room sounds sadistic.

"The sound proofing of this warehouse is pretty lit," I say as I entered the room. Three guys hanged by metallic chains tied around their wrists above their heads, all bloodied and covered in sweat and dirt. Feet tied up with ropes that aren't even touching the tiled floor. All wearing nothing but only their undergarments. Tools for torture are displayed on the other side of the room. It smells like rust, piss, vomit and other foul odors I don't even have a clue what is it. Looks like a scene in a horror movie but alas, this is for real.

"Brother, you're here." Gavin, one of my right-hand men, greeted me.

"You giving our guests special love and care, brother? I hope they feel welcomed," I said.

"We are hospitable enough." Gavin walked to the guy hanging in the middle, grabbed his hair and pulled his head back so we can see his bloody bruised face.

I nodded at him. "His royal highness and I had a deal. If I get rid of all the new rats running and playing in his town then the Vipers will be joining his royal army. What he didn't know is that we are way ahead of him," my boys inside the room who were watching, smirks. "We already caught us some rats to deal with," I smiled evilly as I looked at each of them hanging bastards.

I noticed the three of them shudder from what they heard.

I pulled my karambit* out of my pocket holding it swiftly against the guy's neck in the middle. "Talk. I'm not a patient man."

Stuttering, he answered, "I-I already told that ba-bald guy that we were just following orders." I looked at Gavin who has a resting poker face and laughed loudly at him.

"Told you brother, you should try that horse shampoo sister recommended you to use to have your hair growing back again," some of my boys were trying not to laugh as Gavin just shrugged.

"Tell our big brother what you told us earlier," Gavin released the guy's head with a push making the chains rattle loudly as his body sways. My blade slicing a bit of skin on his neck.

"Rick! It-it was Rick from the White Noise gang who ordered us to kidnap those girls so he can sell them to those rich clients of his."

Hmmm, interesting and disgusting at the same time.

"Is his escort service business at loss to sell girls to paedophiles?"

"Those fucking bastards almost kidnapped my little sister," Oscar, my other right-hand man, said. "I'm lucky that me and some of our brothers are around when these three rats attempted to get her."

I'm getting more furious with every information I'm hearing. "What about the drugs? Those candies you were selling at schools," I asked with clenched teeth.

"Those are our commission from hi-him every time we got him a virgin. We sell them so we can have extra cash," he defeatedly hangs his head. "Those teenagers who wants to try are the easy buyers. We nee-needed the money badly. We got no choice but to...."

I sliced his neck open with my karambit, startling the other guys who are hanging beside him. "I hate guys like you," his blood sputtering on the concrete as he choke his last breath. "Leave those innocent kids alone. Never drag them to this shithole that we are living in. You're just creating new monsters. We always have a choice fucking remember that!" I closed my eyes to calm my heavy breathing.

"You guys are in deep shit," Gavin snickers.

I face the other guy on my left as I trace my blade's tip on his chest, "you heard what I said, Rat?" No answer. I instantly pointed my karambit upwards and hooked it up to his neck as it went through his throat, twisting it to the left then pulled my blade out killing him on the spot. "He must be deaf, and now, he's dead," I shrugged. "Told you, I'm not a patient man. Tsk tsk," wiping the blood off my blade using the dead guy's body.

The silence inside the room was broken with my joints cracking when I tilt my neck to my left and right to stretch. "Okay last question," I walked towards the last guy.

"Wha-what is it? I'll answer all your questions. Bu-but please don't kill me," he pleads as he cries.

"How many are you and where are your friends? Oh damnit, I said last question but that's two questions," I sighed. "Whatever! Answer the questions please," in sing-song.

"Ten, uhmm, minus two so eight," he looks at his dead buddies. "We all live in the basement of this old canteen at Ongpin."

"Good boy," I gently slap his cheek repeatedly. I walked to Gavin and nodded at him as I got the towel he handed me to clean up the blood in my hands. "I'll leave the cleaning to you guys. I have to go home so I can eat dinner with a beautiful woman," folding my karambit and placing it back inside my pocket.

"We'll clean this up quickly so we can join you and sister," Gavin nods at me as the other guys agree with him.

"Ca-can I go now," the remaining rat asked as he looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Yup!" A relieved sigh came from him, "you can go to hell with your friends."

I left the room as he screams for help. I took the voice recorder out of my jacket's inside pocket and pressed stop. Now, I have proof that one of Brad's trusted gang is the one creating this scene in Chinatown. I have to think ahead on how I'm going to use this information to my advantage.

Frederick oh Frederick. What should I do to you you old bastard?

*The karambit or kerambit (as used in Indonesian), kurambik or karambiak (both from the Minangkabau language) is a small Indonesian curved knife resembling a claw from the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra. The karambit is one of the weapons commonly used in pencak silat and Filipino martial arts.