“Yes, sir.”
“Identify those who worked on that shift for me, Juan,” Viktor demanded.
Juan opened his mouth to speak, but Viktor beat him to it.
“Were you on the shift?” he inquired, slanting his head a fraction, the way he did whenever he asked a question he already knew the answer to.
“Yes, sir,” Juan responded, nodding fervently.
“Okay,” he answered, looking around the room. “Everyone who wasn’t on the affected shift, exit the room.”
“Yes, sir!” many of them chorused as they shuffled out of the room, leaving us with Juan and eleven other men, two of whom were stationed at the door as guards.
Viktor advanced closer to the center of the room where the ten of them had gathered.
“This is going to be very quick, being a detour,” he disclosed, turning to meet my amused gaze. “Just concise conversations. And some tools, if need be.”
He let his words sink in before going on.
“It’s no coincidence that three orders, packed during the same shift, were incomplete. Some of you held some drug packets back at some point while packing these orders. All of you staring at me right now belong in one of two categories: the culprits and those who know them. There’s no middle ground.”
He took another step closer to them as he explained, “Now, I couldn’t give a fuck about who took these items. I’m concerned about those who witnessed it, those who would like to tell me who the culprits are. Because only the witnesses have a chance of walking out of this room unscathed. However, if no one has anything to share, I’ll assume you’re all culprits. Which makes things simple, nothing more than ten clean shots.”
“Sir! I swear I didn’t see anything. I just face the seals I’m fixing. I don’t discuss or look around,” Keith rushed, his eyes pleading.
“Really? You guys eat together on breaks, don’t you? Do you think I believe you didn’t hear a word about an activity that must have been planned for weeks?” Viktor asked, his tone level.
“I don’t…” he started before Viktor casually pulled out his gun. With widened eyes, Keith rushed, “Please, sir!”
“In case any of you are stupid enough to think otherwise, I’m not in the habit of drawn-out tortures. Anyone who givesvaluable information goes free, without any fear of being attacked, since none of the culprits will be left alive,” Viktor revealed.
“Sir, I was coerced!” Juan shouted, lifting his hands above his head.
“Coerced into what? I’ve got no time for follow-up questions.”
“I was going to tell Yuri when I heard, but they…” Juan explained, pointing to the three men on his left, “…they…they said they’d killSantiago and me. So I…I got scared. I didn’t even tell Santi. He has a kid on the way, I couldn’t put him in danger.”
“Well, you’re going to die now if you make me ask what you discovered,” Viktor answered.
“They were talking about how expensive a single packet is and how Leonid had a guy who was interested in buying them in retail. I didn’t know when or how they planned to steal them,” he rushed.
“Sir, he’s lying. We were not talking about these drug packets. My aunt lost her child after years of treatment. I was telling my guys how much the drugs were worth, but we concluded that she wouldn’t agree,” Leonid rushed, his voice loud.
“Move forward, the three of you,” Viktor instructed, gesturing with his gun.
Nodding at the one in the middle, he asked, “Leonid’s aunt, the one he was telling you about…”
The guy nodded earnestly.
“She lives where?”
“Sir?”
“Repeating myself is the same as sanctioning your death,” Viktor said, his expression devoid of emotion.
“Russia,” he answered.
“That was what he told you guys, right?” Viktor asked the third guy.
