Chapter 432: Leave In An Hour
DING!
Everyone frowned as the elevator chimed.
Instinctively, they looked up at the floor indicator above the doors.
Nothing.
"That was quick," Vodka muttered as the elevator doors slowly slid open.
Ashley immediately stepped out while everyone else could only stare outside.
Like him, everyone wore puzzled expressions as they stared at the unfamiliar wall outside.
This didn’t look like any other floor in the building.
Khan stepped out first.
He glanced down the hallway that led into a much larger open space.
The others followed behind him, equally confused.
As they walked farther in, they quickly noticed how empty the floor was.
Aside from several monitors and computers connected together at the far end of the room, there was only a couch, a cabinet, and several stacked crates along one wall.
And Ashley?
She stood near the center of the room, dragging a large whiteboard into place.
"Hey," Red called as he looked around suspiciously. "What the hell is this place?"
"You said office," Rum added. "This doesn’t look like an office."
"A secret floor?" Warriyo wondered, his attention already fixed on the computers. "Didn’t hear of that."
Gin was no different.
He stared at the setup, studying the wiring and equipment.
"This is insane," Gin whispered as he slowly walked past Ashley toward the computer station.
Ashley glanced at him but paid him little attention.
Instead, she looked at everyone else.
"Welcome," she said with a shrug. "Since I don’t really have a choice but to trust the nine of you now... this is my real office."
Everyone just stared at her blankly, as if trying to process this new information.
"What about the other one?" Nelek asked, pointing upward. "What’s that for?"
"Business," Ashley shrugged.
"This one is for important things." She paused. "Confidential things."
She stopped again and added, "Illegal things."
Everyone except Gin: "..."
Gin, meanwhile, circled the computer setup with sparkling eyes.
"This is my dream workstation," he muttered.
As he admired it, his hand accidentally nudged the mouse.
Every monitor immediately lit up.
Gin jumped back, his eyes darted across the screens.
One monitor was downloading an enormous amount of data.
Another displayed countless background processes.
Another showed every floor of the building through the security system.
"Holy..." he whispered.
The more he looked, the more unbelievable it became.
Even if he couldn’t identify every program, he could immediately tell that whoever operated this room possessed skills rivaling the Black Dragon’s cybersecurity division.
Perhaps, even beyond them.
Warriyo stood beside him in stunned silence.
Unlike the others, both of them understood exactly what they were looking at.
The rest simply stared at the screens with confused expressions.
"Those aren’t important right now," Ashley said casually before flipping the whiteboard around.
"For now... look at this."
Everyone shifted their attention to the board.
Everyone except Gin and Warriyo. They wanted to ask an entirely different question.
If this really was Ashley’s office... was she the one operating all of this?
None of them had ever heard of Ashley possessing this kind of expertise.
She couldn’t even beat Primo in a video game. She barely used her phone beyond taking pictures of Primo and Lucian.. Or occasionally snapping embarrassing photos of them.
Yet those questions quickly disappeared the moment they saw the whiteboard.
"What the..." Rum trailed off.
Marshal’s photograph filled the center.
Surrounding him were every major figure listed in the files they had just finished reading.
Having reviewed the portfolios moments earlier, they understood the board almost instantly.
"We’re not assassinating them?" Nelek blurted in surprise.
He looked over the board again, more slowly this time.
Red and Khan stepped closer and silently studied the plan.
After making sure he hadn’t misunderstood it, Red looked at Ashley.
"You want us to hit all of these targets... tonight?"
Ashley nodded without hesitation.
"That’s right."
She clapped once, drawing everyone’s attention.
"We’re splitting into five teams." She raised one hand. "Ten people. Two per team."
"As you can see," she continued, gesturing toward the board, "these groups are minor compared to the whales. But don’t underestimate them. They’re still sharks."
Ashley pointed toward a large map she had prepared earlier.
She had spent almost the entire day assembling it before returning to the funeral so no one would grow suspicious.
"We’ll strike five different locations." She pointed one after another. "Here. Here. And these three. These may be smaller operations... but they’re critical."
She paused and turned to them. "They’re Marshal’s toes."
Silence filled the room.
Everyone listened carefully, and no one interrupted. There would be time for questions after hearing the entire plan. Splitting into five teams was already dangerous enough. So, that was their biggest concern.
"We don’t need to engage everyone," Ashley clarified.
"Our objective is to cripple the business. If we eliminate key operators... even better." She pointed toward another location on the board.
"Once every team finishes, we’ll regroup here. Then we’ll move together. This time... all ten of us."
Everyone immediately understood.
The second phase required direct confrontation.
Ashley didn’t let them speculate for long.
"We’ll wipe them out." Her voice remained calm. "Dead men tell no tales. This operation isn’t Dominion’s."
"And we’re not leaving survivors to tell stories about Dominion betraying one of its allies."
Silence swept through the room once again.
The plan suddenly became much clearer.
Going head-to-head against Marshal would be suicide.
But dismantling him piece by piece... that was different.
Take away enough limbs...
Eventually, even a giant would fall. Only then could they cut off his head.
No one spoke until Rum pointed at another section of the board.
"What about them?" He tapped one of Marshal’s allied organizations. "They’re almost as big as the second target. They’re close enough to send reinforcements too."
"Don’t worry about them," Ashley replied with a small smile. "After we blow off Marshal’s toes, Interpol will cut off his ankles."
Deep frowns spread across the room.
"On the night of our attack," Ashley explained, "Interpol will be raiding their headquarters."
"They’ll be too busy running for their own lives."
She briefly outlined the rest of the operation.
Years spent inside the Di Carpio family had given her an enormous advantage.
She knew where their hidden facilities were.
Where they moved money.
Who was genuinely loyal.
And who merely benefited from Marshal’s influence.
"If everyone understands..." Ashley jerked her chin toward the stacked crates. "Go pick your toys."
She smirked. "We leave in an hour."
Everyone exchanged glances before walking toward the crates.
The moment they opened them, rows upon rows of firearms greeted them.
Rum slowly nodded.
"She really was..." he muttered. "Ready for this."
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