Mafia | Renhyuck

Part 35: Leads to Nowhere

Renjun rested his crutches against the edge of the long table and pulled his seat back, sitting down carefully so as to not agitate any of the cuts on his body.

Donghyuck sat down in the seat to his right and Mark placed himself in the chair to his left. Boxing him in as they had done for the past hours they had been together. Not that Renjun minded the extra precautions and care, he just thought they were a little excessive.

The room was spacious to say the least. Rarely used and rarely remembered, it was decorated with a neutral gray carpet and light brown walls. The ceiling had large and wooden circular lights which complimented the wooden panels in between the floor-length windows.

The windows displayed the wide yard, the wall of trees swaying against the breeze in the distance. Only barely noticeable against the now dark sky. Renjun's eyes focused on the dancing trees as the rest of the team filtered into the room, tense with what could either be nerves or anticipation.

Donghyuck's fingers thrummed against the smooth surface of the long table, placed in the dead center of the room. The light thud of Donghyuck's nerves displayed through his fingers added to Renjun's anxiety about the upcoming discussion. This room was only used for the upmost serious conferences, most briefings taking place in the living room or the weapons room as they were suiting up.

The room dissolved into a breathless silence, the dim lights only adding to the serious atmosphere. Renjun's eyes flickered over the filled seats, briefly wondering why they had enough chairs to fit 21 people. His eyes passed the empty seat between Sicheng and Jungwoo and rested on the two empty chairs at the head of the table.

Everyone visibly straightened as Taeyong sauntered into the room, his light brown coat flaring behind him as he stalked to the chair. Johnny walked in just as powerfully, always at Taeyong's right hand. Everyone's eyes focused on Taeyong as he stood next to his chair at the head of the table, Johnny taking his seat next to him, Doyoung at the other side.

Taeyong's eyes raked over the people gathered and Renjun even tensed up as his eyes passed over him. He knew this was serious business and Taeyong certainly knew this, wanting everyone to take it just as seriously. He finally sat down and the room seemed almost suffocating, waiting for his first words of actions. The boss gestured down the table to Sicheng and the medic stood up immediately.

"Sicheng, what have we learned about our mail truck and it's driver?"

"From what we could salvage, nothing important came up. The body of the driver was too charred to identify any distinguishable features as was the vehicle itself," Sicheng cleared his throat and looked down at the folder placed in front of him, "All that was identifiable were the remains of several packages that had had the addresses burned off."

Taeyong nodded as everyone processed Sicheng's words and Renjun barely noticed his nod for Jungwoo, who had been assisting Sicheng, to continue the report. Jungwoo stood and looked at Sicheng who gave him a nod in return as he sat down. Jungwoo swallowed thickly.

"This partly reveals that this attack of sorts may have been preplanned and the packages' labels previously burned off to ensure nothing significant would be found." Jungwoo sat back down in his seat, finished with the conclusions from their search and analysis. All eyes returned to look at their leader, who was staring at the center of the table, mulling over what had been discovered, or lack-there-of.

"So, from what we've discovered-," Jaehyun leaned back in his seat as he grabbed everyone's attention, "-our enemy is methodical and meticulous. They're clearly intent to hurt us on a personal level, seeing as the letter was directly addressed to Donghyuck."

"It also seems they may be in a position of high power. Most likely, in our case, higher up in the levels of underground power not the legal kind." Ten added, twirling  a pen between his fingers and Renjun shifted, his mind whirling to try and draw conclusions.