Walking into the warehouse Issac couldn't help thinking that something more was behind this Lumber Company. When he looked at all Southern Angel assets nothing showed any loss of members, not even a scuffle that would explain any deaths. And yet, talk of people disappearing isn't something that just happens to any company, even one led by a drug lord.

The weirdest thing was that he only found the connection between Miguel and Amazon Lumber from a small file buried under thousands of their other assets. Which was strange, cause Amazon Lumber was making more money than anything else that Miguel had on the table.

In fact, as of 2015, Amazon Lumber was ranked as one of the top ten timber companies in the whole world with multiple branches around the Amazon. Their workers cut thousands of trees every day and get paid millions for it. So it stands to reason that if someone like Miguel, a man known for his boisterous arrogance, had a company like that in his pocket then you could be sure as hell that the whole world would know about it.

And yet instead it gets buried under stacks of their lesser-known properties things like bars and strip clubs. What was he hiding here?

Dodging around workers and staff members going into the factory Issac watched as trucks brought in tons of large wooden planks. Each one would be cut down to match an array of different sizes and then shipped again to any retail store and a few across the ocean.

As he watched the workers rushing back and forth hurrying to fetch the next slab of wood to be shaped, Issac still couldn't find any evidence that this place would have to be connected to someone like Manuel. No guards with guns or any secondary product to be shipped with the lumbar, to all intents and purposes it looked like any run-of-the-mill company. Complete with mysteriously disappearing workers.

Lost in thought Issac continued to climb the stairs until he found himself in front of a thick oak door decorated in weird carvings. On the front of the door was a group of three trees with a border of leaves all along the door. Each tree was so detailed it looked as if Issac was looking out of a window instead of standing in front of a door.

Grasping the golden handles Issac stepped into the main office and immediately felt as if he had stepped into a different world.

Leaning back out into the warehouse, Issac saw that while it wasn't in the poorest condition it was still an industrial warehouse, everything was bare metal with bits of rust here and there along the walls and beams. No care was put in the style of what would only ever be a warehouse.

But on the other hand, when he looked back into Room 15 all he saw was an office that would fit in any New York skyscraper building. A lush white carpet sat on the floor, a forest was carved on the dark brown mahogany walls and the ceiling had foot by foot indentations that looked as if someone took a step pyramid and pressed them into the wood of the ceiling.

There was only one window, right behind a decorated Victorian wooden desk laden with a top of the line monitors and a pendulum cradle but instead of iron balls, the cradle had clear blue crystals attached to the strings.

The only light source beside the window was the golden lamps sitting on top of tables against the walls. And right across from the desk, right next to the doors was a wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling bookcase filled with books that he bet was no less than 100nds of years old.

Walking up to a black leather office chair sitting behind the desk, Issac jumped with such force into the chair that it spun around five times before stopping right in front of the drawn-open window. Allowing Issac to watch as all the workers scurried around, going about their day as if they were hundreds of worker ants. Coming and going, their only purpose is to work until they die, doing it all for the queen.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Turing and booting up the monitor he wondered for a moment why this mysterious new boss wasn't in his office. And, taking a second look around the room, why was it that there seemed to be no cameras watching for any would-be intruders?

Hearing the desktop pop up Issac quickly searches through the computer looking for any files or plans concerning houses. After finding everything he thought was revenant he made a copy and put everything into a flash drive, waiting at hand.

“ Is it taken care of?”

Hearing a deep voice coming down the hall, Issac quickly removed the flash drive before placing everything back the way that it was before.

“ Good, we can't have talks like that making rounds through the grounds, if these ‘people’ can't even work for us then they are not needed.”

Just barely turning off the monitor, Issac heard the handle jingle, forced to turn to open the door into the office.

Opening the door a tall Latino man walked wearing Italian dress shoes in a midnight black suit that was trimmed in gold and a leaf green tire over a pure white dress shirt. The man looked around the room pulling the phone away from his ear so that he could focus.

“ No it's nothing, just make sure that this guy doesn’t come in tomorrow.”

***

As he walked down the street a presence stayed in his mind, sitting there, weighing down on his conscience. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't get the image of the golden handle turning out of his mind.

Issac walked down the street in complete silence. His heart was pumping, his eyes unfocused on the world around him. He continued walking like this for forty minutes, not stopping for people or cars. With no break in his stride, he walked forward leaving the sounds of angry people and honking cars in the distance.

But no matter how they hollered or tried to shake him they couldn't break Issac’s stride, he couldn't feel their hands or hear their voices. Issac could even see where he was going, all he could see was the image of a golden door handle, turning to the right, and opening the door.

After walking for a long time Issac finally stopped in the middle of a driveway. Looking up Issac stared blankly not even knowing himself what he was doing, after staying still for a while his senses gradually came back.

The first thing that came back was the feeling in his feet standing on the hard asphalt, then came the rest of his body, the feeling of the wind and what felt like a few bruises here and there. His hearing came next, a car's horn blaring in his ear and curses raining on his head. And finally, his eyesight came back, losing the vision of gold and instead being filled with the sight of an old ratty Motel.

The Motel was at least four stories standing out against the high-rising buildings next to it. From the first look, you could see that it wasn’t the most well-off place with its chipped paint and crumbling concrete walls. But it was cheap and sturdy, and that was good enough for him.

~HONK, HONK, HOOOOOOONKKK~

“ HEY, GET OUT OF THE ROAD, I’M TRYING TO PARK YOU DAMN JUNKIE !”

“ GET OUT OF THE WAY !”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING !”

“MOVE !”

Looking over Issac noticed that while he was standing in the driveway into the Motel parking lot cars had been trying to drive in from the street. Since none of them could get past him a line had begun to form winding back into the street and blocking traffic.

~HONK, HONK, HON-CHRSSS~

Normally Issac wouldn't have even bothered with them, just smiled apologies and went about his day. But today he just couldn't let it go, giving in to his more basic instinct. Issac walked over and shoved his sandal foot through the hood of the car, denting it and destroying the annoying noise at the same time. The noise from the drivers followed closely behind.

Smiling at the driver, the only thing that he said to him was “ Have a nice day.” Before walking off.