Crimson Park

Chapter 17

Your hand danced fluidly across the pages in front of you. It was the annual staff meeting, where not only the officials were in attendance, but also their immediate subordinates. It was then that Zoya's absence was noticed, as a young, but not so fresh-faced bookie was in her seat. You worried about her, since her leaving was inconveniently timed too closely with the discovery of the informant. This time, it was being held in a warehouse in the dodgy part of the city. A far cry from the lavish estate the operations meeting had been held in. Regardless, you were happy. This location meant you didn't need accommodations and you could go home at the end of the day instead of having the Carter's of the world try to break down your door in the middle of the night.

Minho had been right. Security had been massively upgraded and - as instructed - all three of your men were present. Joohyuk outside the conference room; Jungkook with joint security downstairs; and Taesub on the perimeter watching the car. Dongnam wasn't present today – nor was his son as was initially planned. Due to the scare, Dongnam had sent his assistant, again, to run the meetings. The burly man liked being in charge just a little too much. He was going to be disappointed when Dongnam's son took over the organisation and would likely leave him without a reputable position.

You had to stop yourself from rolling your eyes as you looked at your watch and noticed that only one painful hour had passed, yet the assistant was still busy giving his state of the union address. That was when you heard a pop, and he stopped speaking. You looked up to find he was no longer there, standing across from you on the other side of the conference table. The faces around the table shared your shock and that was when you noticed the pool of crimson begin to flood the floor. You looked back to the windows lining the room and noticed a hole the size of a bullet cutting through the glass.

"Get down!" someone shouted. You hit the floor just as a wave of bullets began to fly through the windows. You bolted across the wood to take refuge under the sill. Screams and the sound of shattering glass and furniture flooded the room somehow over the sound of the rapid gunfire coming from outside. You tucked your knees into your body and covered your head as the glass above you fell to pieces around you.

When the round ended, you looked up to see nothing but carnage and chaos. The table had been flipped over, chairs scattered the glass and blood covered floor and the bodies – alive and dead – of your colleagues were everywhere. Before you could think of what to do next, with the sound of another terrifying bang, a second round of bullets began to fly through the room. This one went on for what felt like hours. Your heartbeat matched every pull of the trigger – or triggers.

You looked to your left and saw Mace also tucked against the wall beneath the vantage of the windows. Another pause came between rounds. Mace mouth "go" to you, and you shook your head. You knew better. It wasn't over yet. He moved to go...

"Don't!" you called to him, but he didn't listen. He jumped and ran towards the door but barely made it one step before he hit the floor – dead.

"Fuck!" you screamed against your better judgement.

"Y/N!" you heard a voice from the hall. It was Joohyuk. "Y/N! Answer me!"

"I'm here!"

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

Joohyuk, his gun drawn, crawled up behind the wall next to the door. You locked eyes with him immediately then he nodded.

"Don't move. We're on it."

"Ok."

Joohyuk raised his wrist and began speaking, but you couldn't hear. He must've been speaking to Jungkook or Taesub...

...Jungkook. He was with joint security.

Your thoughts were interrupted by another spray of bullets. Except, this time the bullets weren't flying into the conference room – there was a firefight in the building next door.