I step through the creaky door of the warehouse and glance around. Anger roils through my gut as I scan the mostly empty building. The crack in the floor resembled the ones that formed in my mind. "The sooner this merger happens, the better." I tell Sandy, as I cross the warehouse, circling around bloodstains and stop in the center. "Things are getting ugly."
"This merger?" Sandy asks with a snort. "You mean your wedding? I wonder how your bride would feel about that term."
"Whatever." I say dismissively as I turn a crate right side up with my toe. It's empty like the rest of the few crates scattered about. Every single ounce of product is gone and that just pisses me off even more.
"How many men did we lose this time?" The question was posed casually, but I could sense the underlying concern and anger.
"Fifteen." I spit. A day later I can still smell the lingering tang of fear. "We lost fifteen men because Carpathia can't stick to Manhattan. He owns drugs and protection for sixty blocks. That's not enough for him? He has to come out here and hijack us?" I can try but I can't keep the venom out of my voice.
Sandy glances sideways at me, "You think your father's going to keep putting up with this crap?"
I stare at the wall which lets some weak sunlight filter through the holes created by bullets punching through the wood. I shake my head, "I don't know. Carpathia's taken a lot of territory. The old man's cautious – not that he'd ever admitted that."
Sandy kicks at a crate, sending it spinning across the floor. "Five million just this-" he begins, before getting cut off.
"I know." I say, as I cut him off with a growl. "This has gone way too far. I'll deal with it myself if I have to. I would have already, but-" I pause and rake my hand through my hair. "I thought that no one's crazy enough to do this. Looks like I was wrong."
Sandy nods and shoves his hands into his pocket. "Well, after the wedding - Sorry - I mean after the merger, you'll have enough power to make Carpathia less of a threat."
I give him a dark look and my jaw involuntarily clenches and I can hear my teeth creak from the pressure. "You really think that'll happen?" I turn away from the carnage, shove a hand into my pocket, and dig out a cigarette packet.
Sandy passes me a lighter and I pass him a cigarette, then we both light up.
The smoke curls into the cool night air as we stroll out the double doors and down the busy street, soon losing ourselves in the bustling crowd. Behind us, sirens wail and police cars pull into the empty lot of the abandoned warehouse.
