Late in the afternoon at Greco's factory
A young man in white protective gear watched impatiently as the floor numbers' in the elevator ascended. A ding sound went off when his ride came to a stop and the doors slid open.
He didn't waste a second and run out of the lift. His running changed into a walk with hurried footsteps until he reached an office door with the label 'MANAGER' at the top and he knocked on it.
"Come in!" An older man responded from inside.
He strode in immediately and remembered to close the door behind him. The manager stood up from his desk whilst signing a document.
"Charlie! Everything set?" He asked as he put down the pen and shut the file.
"Yes, sir. You need to inspect", Charlie replied politely.
The manager let out a laugh in amusement as he went around his desk to join the young man. "I'm sure you did a great job. But let's check anyway."
They walked side by side exchanging small talk as they went to take the elevator down to the first floor. The manager was pleased to see delivery trucks full of cartons loaded in the trailers.
They stopped at one truck and he picked up a box to examine it. "This is perfect", he said. "These are ready to be delivered."
"Yes, sir."
The manager placed the box back only to hear a jingle sound. He looked at Charlie with brows furrowed in confusion before taking the box back. He shook it a little and more carefully only to hear the same sound.
"Knife! Can someone bring me a knife?" He shouted. His expression had changed into a serious one the young man nervous. One of the workers brought a knife and the manager carefully tore through the package.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" he shouted both in fury and horror.
"Sir?"
"WHAT KIND OF PACKAGING IS THIS?!" He raged and lifted a tiny glass bottle of the drug. "DO I NEED TO TEACH YOU HOW AND WHY YOU NEED TO SECURE BREAKABLES? HOW MANY OF THESE ARE LIKE THIS?"
"All-All the boxes, sir", he answered quietly.
"In this truck?"
"All of them, sir."
He opened this mouth to speak but only shook his head in disappointment. "NO TRUCK LEAVES THIS PLACE UNTIL YOU SECURE ALL THE PRODUCTS! UNLOAD THE BOXES!"
He mumbled to himself as he walked away to his office. They were already against time and now they had to delay. Hopefully, the higher-ups would understand this problem. This was not even supposed to happen! Should he really have personally supervised? Or were the men just overwhelmed by this special order?
"Damn it...", He said to himself as he threw himself on his chair in his office.
He picked up some work to continue where he left off but his mind was on the goods downstairs. Making up his mind, he stood from his seat and walked out.
"There's no room for any other mistake. I'll personally see to it!" He grumbled in annoyance and went to take the elevator back down.
When he arrived, Charlie was supervising and actively taking part in the packaging making sure the bottles were properly cushioned and secured in the boxes. The manager was so immersed overseeing the work that he did not hear the sound of approaching footsteps.
It was when the workers started looking over his shoulder that the manager turned around and saw his visitors. His expression quickly turned grave.
"Madam", he acknowledged Gwen after taking off his hat and bowed politely. "Welcome."
"This shouldn't be here by now", she said while walking towards him and looking at her wrist watch.
Peter was right behind her with a few bodyguards accompanying them. The manager wiped his sweaty palms against his worksuit trouser. "Madam, we-"
She stopped a few feet away from him and gave him a condescending gaze. "Were you or were you not given a deadline?"
"Yes, b-"
"Were you not made aware that the goods were supposed to leave at exactly 2 this afternoon?"
"We were. But a delay was inevitable. I forgot to instruct that the goods be secure since they are breakables", he hurriedly explained.
Gwen fell quiet and finally took in the scene. Her brows furrowed in displeasure. "Did you not know that they were breakables in the first place or...?"
Seeing how she looked at him with suspicious eyes and obvious displeasure, he dropped his gaze to the floor. The young man from earlier felt guilty gnawing at him. His boss was shouldering his fault.
Gwen took out phone and walked a distance away from them. Peter watched as she made a phone call. Judging from her stiffened body language, he could guess who she was talking to.
She caught him staring and he looked away immediately. Despite their little secret, Gwen still scared him. Would their relationship ever evolve into something.... better? Or was that wishful thinking on his part?
Bang! Shocked and horror filled gasps echoed in the factory as the sound of a gunshot went off. Following it, was thud sound of a body dropping down on the floor.
"Oh my gosh!"
"Oh my god!"
Peter turned with eyes wide in horror to the former source only to see Gwen drop down her hand that was holding a gun and when he turned to the latter source, the manager was lying dead in his own pool of blood. Everyone except the bodyguards were horrified and froze in fear.
"Who's the supervisor of this factory?" She leisurely asked as she walked over. She got no response or reaction which made her sigh and roll her eyes. "I don't like to repeat myself."
"M-m-me. I-I-I am the supervisor", Charlie stumbled forward, feeling his legs almost give out.
"Congratulations, you just got promoted and you know what that means!"
Charlie's face turned even more pale not just from the horrific sight a few feet away from him but also the obvious threat in Gwen's voice. He forcefully swallowed a hard lump and fought not to wipe away the cold sweat on his forehead.
"One hour!" She said and turned to leave. "Clean that up", she told her bodyguards.
"Madam!" Charlie shouted in a trembling voice. "We need to carefully secure the products, it might take us longer than an hour."
She stopped in her tracks and everyone felt their hearts stop. Charlie started to regret speaking up but it was the truth. He watched as her index finger tap on her gun as she slowly turned around....
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