Destinied Hearts

Part 8

Luca's POV

The morning sun was warm but dusky filtered through the heavy fog as I drove to the port. My thoughts were all over the place with the humming engine of my car. Father had called Leo for urgent work, and I was told to get here. The waiting started as I arrived at the port. And hours had rolled by with each passing minute, and the anticipation grew heavier. It was as if nobody was there—no Victor, no clues. The port had its warehouses spread here and there, and containers in every direction felt hauntingly silent.
I have also been thinking of Victor and 'The Den'. The lead from 'The Den' was very strong, but this was not the kind of place one would conducting mafia operations if they don't have a death wish. It was notorious for being the underworld tied to the ragtag criminals who did not take part in other mafia fighting factions and abided by their own philosophy. Any mafia soldier entering their territory would be considered as breaking the peace treaty Alex made with Wanton-the underdog leader.
Striking now is that, if at all, I have decided to stay at the port; the more information I get here, possibly, the clearer things may become regarding our next step. My thoughts while waiting were disrupted by the ringing of my cell phone: it was Leo calling.
Leo on the phone.
"Luca, I need you home right now. Something urgent has come up."
I didn't hesitate. Whatever was going on back at home took over my thoughts more than my search at the port. I left the area and raced back fast, thinking my head must be boggling over what could be so important that Leo needed me immediately.
Thirty minutes passed before I pulled into the parking area of our residence. Enzo's car was already parked there, indicating that something serious must be happening. I entered the house and walked into the living room. The seating there consisted of Alex, Leo, Rocco, and Enzo, all of whom wore tense expressions. Marco and Giovanni entered the house as I approached, adding the key players who had just arrived.
Leo nodded toward me.
Thanks for coming. We have a serious issue."
Alex who had a grim face said, "We have just found out that the whole shipment of arms is missing."
The room fell silent as the weight of Alex's words sank in. Missing arms were a grave breach of security, and everyone knew what this meant.
Marco frowned looking at Leo.
"I've just heard that a shipment of grenades that was meant for Turkey is missing."
"How can an entire shipment of grenades disappear so easily? This is meant to be put in a secure storage," Giovanni wondered
"The procedures here at the port are tight. It should not happen if it is not with someone helping out from inside," Rocco concluded.
"We have to know if it was from inside or someone evaded our security system. We have to know who is behind this," Enzo declared.
"Luca, I want you to go over the security tapes and see if something pops out. We might get our clue on how it happened during the shipment" Leo told me turning towards me.
"I'm on my way," I nodded.
"We should check also if this theft has anything to do with the difficulties we have been experiencing lately with the drugs sold on our streets. Perhaps it is some inside job on our part, some guy working on the premises to disrupt our business," Father said, bringing everybody to attention.
"We need to trace the list of those who have access to the shipment. If it's an inside job, probably somebody who knows how we work our system for security," Marco added.
"And we need to trace if there have been recent personnel changes or if someone has been acting suspiciously," Giovanni added.
"I'll go check inside the books and see if any bad activity took place. Maybe one of our own is involved," Rocco said, scrunching up his face.
"What about the underdogs?" Enzo asked Leo whom he shook his head saying,
"It is unlikely that the underdogs are involved, but we must be sure. I will contact Wanton and ask if he knows anything that could connect,
The conversation was lively, and everyone was engrossed in their work. The gravity of the situation necessitated a definite immediate full-scale investigation into the matter. Missing arms might lead to a much bigger conspiracy, and we all were playing our part in unearthing the mystery.
"Okay, let's go to work. We need to know what occurred and ensure our operations remain safe. Luca, start with the footage and let me know," Alex closed by heading to his room.
I walked to the security room, my mind still wrestling with all that information. The place was very dark and Dante had already set several monitors with different angles of the port's security cameras on them. I took a seat at the control panel and was about to get into the footage when I was hardly alone for much longer.
Leo was behind me, and the sudden shadows that be fell upon him simply added another degree of tension in an already charged air of the room. He was sitting next to me, scanning down the feeds as I began to replay the recording.
"Last 48 hours. We're looking for anything abnormal or unauthorized access," Leo said, running his eyes over every feed.
I nodded and began rewinding footage, trying to dig through the interminable hours for something unusual. There were only endless scenes of trucks arriving, containers being pulled out, and security performing their routine duties.
Leo pointing his finger to a timestamp.
"Check around this time. This should be around when the container was to be leaving the port."
I followed the direction, running the footage to the minute we were supposed to and studying it closely. The shot showed a truck coming into the loading dock, but something about it didn't seem right. It wasn't one of our normal trucks, and for just a microsecond the angle of the camera changed, blocking part of the shot.
"Freeze it there. What is that truck doing?"
Leo frowned
I froze the video and zoomed into the truck. The marks on the vehicle were unreadable, but it had a completely different logo showing partly.
"That truck is not one of our usual ones; someone has got to find out who that truck is registered to."
Leo narrowed his eyes.
It wasn't that clear, but I kept watching and saw men lining up at the back of the truck and unloading crates. It was coordinated and deliberate-looking.
"It almost seemed they had inside information," Leo said, rubbing his chin. "Whoever conceived this knew just how to fly under everyone's radar.".
I rewound a bit further and noticed another important detail: a security guard was briefly speaking to one of the men unloading the crates. The guard's manner seemed casual, almost too friendly.
"We need to find out who that guard is and what he might have told these guys."
Leo pointed to the guard.
I scribbled down his name from the ID badge displayed on one of the other cameras. As I scrolled some more, Leo's phone beeped. He glanced at the screen and shrugged irritably.
"I have another call. I have to check in with Rocco and see if he's come across something yet. Just keep digging through the footage. If you notice anything else, alert me."
He said to me, deep in breath.
"Got it. I'll keep you posted."
Leo left the room and I remained with the monitors. Taking my time over the footage, I was eager to find as much information as possible. Glancing through the hours, I soon began to notice patterns in their activities at certain times and places that may suggest coordination or pre-planned activities.
Time slipped by as I watched. And finally, found the moment of discovery: a second truck came into the port just after the first one had already left. This truck was parked in not very visible area; then a group of three or four men started unloading what I supposed to be additional crates.
I focused in as far as the footage let me to two faces showing on the men. Their uniform was hardly a surprise, but at least they seemed busy with some sense of urgency in dealing with the crates. The angles of the camera shots weren't the best, but one of the men turned for a moment to show a tattoo on his arm-at least, I recognized the symbol from previous intelligence reports as being tied to a smuggling ring.
"This is our shipment missing,"
As I watched the video recording of the off-loading, I noticed that the second truck has the same logo as the first one but is of different colour—something, hopefully, to help identify the vehicle when the time comes.
I collated my information and was prepared to present my findings to Leo when he came back. All leads went in the direction of a highly organised operation, possibly conducted by people inside and with many coordination plans. The most worrying lead connected to the missing arms was probably that of the smuggling link that indicated a bigger and more significant affair.
Leo went back into the room and I was set for my report.
"I managed to find something. The two involved trucks belonged to one containing a link with a smuggling ring." I reported to Leo
"Let's make further research on the marking of this truck and see if we can track it.
Good job. This could be a real big break for us. Let's pass this to Rocco and the rest of the team. We have to fit in the rest of the puzzle to find the missing arms before it gets too late." Leo nodded while looking at the footage that I was showing him.
Leo and I went over the new evidence hurriedly so that we could share it with the team. The investigation was by no means near its end, but each clue brought them a step closer to knowing how deep the conspiracy went.

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Hello people,

So yeah I wrote this part in Luca's POV.

What do you all think?

Do not forget to vote and comment.