Hidden and Silent (SpyxFamily)

Ch. 19: Part Three

 But. . .

Something about this hit different. The stains puddling the floors where the dead and the injured had laid, dying. The massacre that had resulted from a corrupt organization doing corrupt things and the hundreds of children that had died and suffered before them.

Yuri was not a squeamish man. He'd had his fair share of dirty work. He was all too aware of the wickedness and atrocities the world had to offer, and he had maintained a healthy detachment from it so he could continue in his line of work. He was not a squeamish man, and yet being here turned his stomach.

He could almost see the blades flying from his sister's hands that had caused these stains. He hadn't been here for it, but he wished he had been.

It hit different.

This had been no assignment for his sister. This was rage and justice and decades of death and suffering she had wielded for the subjects who couldn't exact it themselves. The blood Yor had spilled was a long time coming and the agents had been no mere casualties.

The blood was retribution. The blood was the cost. The stains were Yor's vengeance, painting the floors and walls with the building's own people and Yuri was glad that they remained. That he hadn't had someone clean this up.

Let it stay. Let the blood rot with the rest of this place where the agents had been complacent to so much bloodshed and death themselves.

Yuri wished he could show those dead children. The blood of their captors and abusers. To let them see how broken they had become. That they had been brought down. That they were killed in their own home. That it was over.

Let the blood stay.

Yuri tore his eyes away, disliking the reminders of what those stains carried despite his sentiments.

He made for the door and opened it.

The lab.

Yuri was not thrilled to be here.

If anyone had asked Yuri Briar if he loved his job, if he was dedicated, Yuri would say "yes". He made the world a safer place, He accepted each assignment with pride and never complained. Which was why his lackluster attitude for this particular job frustrated him.

There was something about this place. An unsettling hollowness that he felt as soon as he had arrived. It was different when he was here by himself. Without his team. In the middle of the woods. At night. In an abandoned laboratory. There were no alarms chasing him through the halls.

The lab was a shell of itself and the eerie quiet was all too apparent to Yuri as he wandered the halls spattered with more dried blood like a memory that would never leave this place.

The things that had happened here. The things that the SSS had found. Children's organs. Dead bodies. Containers with suspicious fluids, blood bags, and medical tools that had been kept sharp. Yuri was unable to chase his memories away of the child on an autopsy table. The blood spattered floor underneath an examination table with tiny cuffs. A set of tools nearby and scalpels. The cells with no windows or anything warm. The injuries and bandages wrapped around the survivors.

Yuri studied the bloodstains on his way, wishing he had made the scientists a part of these gory murals.

He shook his head from the distractions and turned into the nearest room to him.

Yuri didn't know where to start. His superiors had tasked him with taking a second sweep through the lab for any evidence, devices, or information they had missed the first time and Yuri was sure he would find nothing. His team had been very thorough. But Yuri would follow the order no matter how sudden or out of place it was and went room to room, ignoring the creeps it gave him.

After searching a few rooms that turned up nothing, Yuri was tempted to leave, but he'd searched such a small percentage of the lab and knew he couldn't abandon his mission just yet.

He opened a door and found himself in the director's study.

The room had been cleaned dry by his team and nothing remained in the desk. Any files, binders, and papers were stolen from the bookshelves and even the stiff rug had been rolled up off the floor for anything hidden underneath. It now leaned against a corner.

Obligation and a sudden surge of rage at the sight of this room had Yuri running hands over the desk and feeling underneath for some sort of catch or give for a hidden compartment. Inside the drawers, he did the same and when there was still nothing, he gave the shelves the same treatment.

Yuri sighed, disappointed, and planted his hand on his hips as he surveyed the room.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting. They had already taken this room for everything it was worth.

The longer he stood here, the less he wanted to leave empty handed and he scanned the furniture one last time with his eyes. The furniture seemed like normal furniture. The rug had nothing sewn underneath it, and—

Hang on.