Save the Billionaire

Chapter 22

Two middle-aged gentlemen and the other one seemed to be in his early 60s nodded at my direction prompting me to nod in reply. They proceed to talk to Carl in turns with worry in their voices and a hint of annoyance for this incident to ever happen.

The older guy in the room joked that in his younger days those people would be 6 feet underground not even able to finish saying Alibaba.

Carl just said that era is long gone. We better utilize what we can use. Create an opportunity in these dire circumstances and protect the image we created.

Apparently, one of the stevedores had been telling the guys he would be on the news soon. Someone is doing special coverage about this town and this place. A reporter seemed to be asking questions regarding this place at the local market in town too.

That employee probably forgot he signed an NDA with us, James retorted. He probably didn't understand what was written and signed it without reading Dave interjected cheerfully.

We confirmed this person's identity. It's actually a reporter for CBA News James said.

He has been snooping around this place since yesterday. The man pointed to a figure on the monitor seemingly outside the walls of this infrastructure.

The question is who gave him the tip he added.

This is just a hunch Carl guessed sounded so serious. Give me the logs of all the shipments that arrived in the last four weeks. One of the middle-aged ones was a Port Captain, who handed Carl his laptop and pointed out some details. Some have already been collected from this port. There were ten shipments through this week, but there is one that just arrived yesterday early morning and will be delivered after four days as the client instructed.

There are five total container vans still unchecked so all of the people inside the office went out to inspect themselves. I stayed at the office because Carl wouldn't let me tag along with them. He strongly refused when I offered my help. 

They opened the three vans first, they were all luxurious fast cars. All were smuggled for one client. Then, the next one was all fake products. Their reaction was precisely like they all got used to what's inside.

They went to the last container van that arrived early yesterday morning. 

They forcefully opened the van, once they opened they were taken aback by what they saw by stepping away a little and Dave covered his nose.

Carl's anger seeped through every part of his body and his people could clearly see his jaw tightened. He was trying his best to be still composed but his hand gestures and somehow his way of scolding people were really showing his going to kill someone. Cuss words flying and incompetent were heard so crisp like the night air. What's inside the van?

To everybody's bafflement, he shut the container close.

He just stood there for a good few minutes and the men just waited on him quietly without any complaints. Everyone just waited for him like soldiers.

When Carl called someone it seemed they all knew the ball had started rolling. They all become alert to his voice. He was ordering his men left and right while walking towards the office.

They all entered the office with a very dangerous look ready to kill.

I asked James because I was too scared to ask Carl "What was inside that container?. "Humans", he whispered. My eyes widened with disbelief.

Dave said, "They were all weak, like half dead, and looked daunting."

"Does this port smuggle people too?" I asked carefully. Nope, James said.

"We use this facility for our purpose, actually for our supermarket and department stores. We ship the products here after customs for a better supply chain route," he explained.

"But, we also do services for other people. We are just a middleman, just a port. They hire us to accept their shipment of things, even drugs, we don't care. We don't know if they passed customs or not. We don't ask questions. But we never do human trafficking." he added.

"We use a heat signature device to avoid this kind of problem, some rich people are way too arrogant with rules but it appears to be broken," Dave told me secretly.

"Everybody knows, that's the condition, and who would do such a thing? Someone is clearly disrespecting territories and daring to go against Carl's authority." One of the older men said bluntly.

Carl started calling people. Just a few minutes ago he was really crazy mad but now he knows what to do. He is really a captain of a big ship.

Carl told the manager that he would wait for the insolent person who left that specific van unnoticed. And, they must get all the information about the client for that specific shipment.

Carl ordered Dave to drive me home. "How about you?" I asked him. "Are you not coming home?"

 Why did I even ask him that, of course, I knew the answer.

"Not yet, don't wait for me. I need to see the end of all this," he smiled at me affectionately.

As I walked away from the office I saw at least 5 men walking towards the office direction with a man being held in by his arms.

"What do you think will happen to him?" I ask Dave. 

"It's better not to know," he answered with caution. 

"In this world when a lot is at stake and many are depending on you. Someone has to do the dirty work," he added.

"Let me give you unsolicited advice, Iris," he said with a big smile like a kid excited to share his candy. 

"Just stay put in that world of yours and don't step into this shadow," he said explicitly with a cheerful energy. "Don't be too curious in the dark side of the world."

Yes, I agree, I always stand in this kind of bright world. But, I knew shadows too. I am always a coward and insecure but must constantly be reminded about good things to breathe again. I kept on needing to have this light around me because my shadow was always following me.

However, What kind of people are lurking in that dark side? How do they keep standing up? Are they never scared? Are they wounded too? Do they feel pain? And why do you have that kind of smug Dave, on your face in the middle of this storm? Why are you so excited about what's happening?

I'm too exhausted to think about anything anymore. I just want to be in my home, in my bed wrapped with a warm blanket, and knowing I am safe under this pale moonlight.