MY FELLOW COLLEAGUES -(STOP)-
I REGRET TO INFORM YOU ALL THAT OUR ATTEMPTS TO ACCESS THE SEA MONSTERS IN QUESTION HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL -(STOP)-
I AM AWARE THE NATURE OF THIS MESSAGE MAY SEEM ODD— GIVEN THAT I AM SENDING VIA TELEGRAM— BUT FEAR NOT -(STOP)-
WE WILL SOON DISCUSS OUR GRIEVANCES ONCE MORE -(STOP)-
PLEASE ARRIVE IN ANCONA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE -(STOP)-
DO NOT TELL ANYONE ABOUT YOUR WHEREABOUTS -(STOP)-
DO NOT LET ANYONE FOLLOW YOU -(STOP)-
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT PROCEED WITH YOUR CURRENT MISSION -(STOP)-
ABANDON YOUR CURRENT MISSION AND REPORT TO ANCONA IMMEDIATELY -(STOP)-
OUR MISSION IS BECOMING CLOSER TO BECOMING A REALITY, FRIENDS -(STOP)-
WE WILL SOON ACHIEVE OUR GOAL— WITH YOUR HELP, I AM SURE OF IT -(STOP)-
SIGNED— DR. L.M -(STOP)-
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In a dark, enclosed room sat a long wooden table, with ten chairs scattered evenly around it. The room was completely pitch black, except for the light that hung on a string from the ceiling. On each end of the table sat four tall, broad-shouldered men, who couldn't see each others' faces in the dark. There was also two other chairs present, although the people sitting in them had much smaller figures. The only thing they could see was the hands of the other people, which were all laying neatly on the table.
Nobody was saying a word, nor were they moving at all. Outside in the pitch black night, nobody was making a noise. The location was remote and unknown; somewhere where the average person wouldn't go wandering. That was exactly what was intended. To be quite honest, the activity they were doing wasn't quite legal.
Finally, one man at the head of the table spoke, his voice low and very raspy.
"Thank you all for coming today, I'm pleased to see that you all got my telegram?"
Some of the other mysterious figures all nodded their head once.
The head man nodded, pleased. He cleared his throat and stood up from the table, still not showing his face, which he commented on.
"Remaining anonymous is probably the best route-- for me and for you all sitting here."
Every person else stood still in their seats, causing the man to smile. He grinned at them and continued speaking.
"It's time for us to take our mission to the coasts of Italy. North would be preferable as we haven't gotten much progress down here, as you know," he said the last part with a chuckle. "I request that we all keep this low profile, as to not draw attention to ourselves. That is the basic information for now, though we can go into much more detail when we get closer to that date. Any questions?"
One of the men at the opposite table raised his hand in the hair, motioning it towards the headman to get his attention.
"I'd like to elaborate on what you said. If we aren't getting results here, how are you sure that we can find any sea monsters in the northern cities? I think it's clear that we're just not finding results in urban areas. So.. we should start searching the sea instead."
The other people at the table all started to talk at the same time, creating incomprehensible commotion around the room. Some were nodding their heads in agreement, while others were very loudly arguing against the point.
"Alright, abbasatanza!" the headman shouted, causing the room to be silent again almost instantly. "Though I see your point, that's not the point I'm trying to make.."
"Most of those creatures live in the sea, we just go there and boom! Easy money!" another man commented.
"Or so we think!" the head man yelled enthusiastically, his voice increasing in volume. "You see, I thought about that exact same thing myself. What's the point of hunting them down, going through all that effort, when they're just going to be hiding away from the outside world?"
There was a long period of awkward silence. The head man looked slightly annoyed, and he cleared his throat, eyeing the man sitting to his right. Presumably, this man was his assistant of some sort, although he looked nothing like his boss. He was much shorter, his shoulders not nearly as broad as the head man's shoulders. He looked as if he had dozed off halfway through the meeting, his circular-rimmed glasses almost falling off of his face.
"Oh for god's sake.." the head man muttered under his breath. "This is the part where you're supposed to ask.. why— and then I'll continue to explain."
The man to his right quickly sat up in his chair and cleared his throat, "Of course, my apologies sir. Why?.."
The headman glared menacingly toward the opposite end of the room, "the answer is.. quite simple. Many of them are not in the ocean, to begin with."
The headman looked over and addressed his assistant once more, "Lesley, the files please."
The assistant pulled out a suitcase and set it down on the table, getting the attention of all the other people. They watched as he unlatched the suitcase and pulled out a few stacks of paper.
"In the past year, we've seen an increase of sea monster population of about 50% collectively in many major cities. In fact, this is just an approximation. In other words, these are only our confirmed cases. There could be more secretly hiding their identity.." the head man explained.
He proceeded to grab the suitcase and throw it against the wall in an outburst of sudden rage, shocking his assistant enough to the point where he almost fell out of his chair.
"And that.. is NOT GOOD FOR OUR OPERATION!" he yelled once more. "Lesley, get the suitcase again."
"Yes sir.."
"Excuse me for the outburst," the headman laughed, trying to play it down as much as possible. "You see, if there are sea monsters out there, keeping their identity from us, then we can't exactly confirm how many there are. That's the problem with these dumb studies... Even with that unfortunate reality in mind though— I think we can still do this. The number of sea monsters living among us is increasing daily, and eventually, we hope to see it increase even more! Now that, is what we are waiting for. If we can get enough of those filthy creatures to live up here, then we'll be able to start taking them without as much risk. Starting it when there aren't enough accessible sea monsters, to begin with, is too risky. Until that happens, we wait patiently on the sidelines.."
The same man from earlier spoke again, "And what's stopping us from hunting in the sea? Why do we need to wait? Why search for sea monsters in the city?"
The head man turned around slowly, glaring at the man who spoke. His intimidating stature created an overbearing silence within the entire room.
"You think we can just waltz into the sea and start.. picking out sea monsters one by one? As I said, compagno, most of them hide, completely isolating themselves from the outside world.." the head man explained. "Aye, do you also know how risky that would be? Hunting sea monsters isn't legal anymore, it's punishable by law. Officials patrol the sea every day. What do you think is going to happen when someone patrolling the sea sees us?"
The man who had asked the question lowered his head, staring at the floor below him. He didn't respond to the rhetorical question.
"That's what I thought.." the head man said. "However, I am not entirely against that idea. Trust me, I wish it were that easy! I wish we could take a boat and gather them up by the bucket load! Unfortunately, it's not that easy. These creatures aren't dumb; if they see a boat coming they will hide. They're excellent hiders, which doesn't help us at all. So not only are they hard to find, but trying to find them could be the very reason our cover is blown! That is why we must hunt them down on land; now that is much more unexpected!"
Everyone else was paying close attention, with one person writing down notes in a notebook. The head man hadn't even shown his face, nor had he revealed what his name was. Yet, he still managed to come off as extremely intimidating, forcing everyone to listen closely.
"Just because we aren't starting this operation yet, doesn't mean we have no jobs for some of you that are interested. I need scouts. Spies. We need to figure out which cities and towns have the most sea monsters. Which cities have the easiest access to them as well would be just as important. Cities like Ancona have stricter security, so start heading north, then some go south. Once you've figured that out, simply report back to me. It's a difficult task, but I have no doubt we can accomplish it! Just make sure you don't get caught. Under any circumstances."
"Any questions?"
Nobody said a word, and so the head man glanced over at Lesley, giving him a short and quick nod. Lesley stood up and gave everyone in the room a genuine smile.
"Alright folks, thank you for coming as always; and remember to—"
"Get out," the head man interrupted, "all of you. Now"
Everyone, startled by the news, grabbed their belongings and rushed out of the building, refusing to make any eye contact with one another. As the last person left, the door shut with a loud slam, leaving the headman and Lesley alone in the building.
"So— uh hey! Sir.. what did you have in mind when you said we needed more people? Perhaps we could... I don't know.."
The headman stopped his assistant by putting his large hand to Lesley's mouth. He grunted and sat down in his chair again.
"Lesley, do you know what your job is?"
Lesley pulled on the collar of his shirt, "Of course."
"Then tell me what it is."
"My job is to.. serve, assist, and protect you in the best way that I can."
The headman didn't react at all, his face having no expression. "Yes, that's right. Your job is not to make the ideas. That is my job, not yours."
"I'm sorry sir, I— uh, was only trying to help."
"Well how about this..." the headman said, walking closer towards Lesley. "Don't."
Lesley nodded, "Yes sir."
The head man started to pace around the room, holding his hand to his chin as he scratched his stubble.
"Lesley, get the suitcase again. Remind me how many we have so far."
Lesley fumbled for the suitcase and unlocked it, pulling out another file with a small, slim piece of paper in it. He put his circular glasses back on and searched the file for the answer.
"We have eight sea monsters so far, sir."
The head man stared at the wall, scratching his chin. He nodded and grunted something unintelligible.
"That's good.. for now," he said. "You can put it back. I'm done with you."
The head man was now in the light, fully able to be seen. If only everyone else was still in the building to see the man. He was tall and had very broad shoulders, his figure being bulky and strong. He had long messy, wavy hair that was a dark grey color, which swept down past his ears. There was a large scar across his sharp cheekbones leading to his left eye. The scar must have strected across his eye as well, as his left eye was slightly discolored. Despite having brown, chocolate eyes, the head man's left eye was bloodshot and red. He had a rugged and scratchy-looking beard that spread across his chin, which looked unshaved and was filled with cigarette ash. He looked exactly like a stereotypical mafia boss that would hunt the protagonist down in an old Italian crime movie if you added a longer haircut. Except this wasn't fake; he was real, and so were the man's intentions.
"Sorry about my actions tonight sir, I apologize." Lesley chimed in.
"For now, just shut it, Lesley. Thanks," the head man said sarcastically, looking at his watch. "Good, we are just on time."
"Oh, and one more thing, Lesley," the head man ordered. "I don't want to hear sir any longer, or you'll make me mad. Comprendere?"
Lesley nodded repeatedly, still slightly terrified of being yelled at constantly during the meeting.
"Yes, Dr."
"That's better. Now, get the car, Lesley. We need to get out of here before it's too late."
Before they were about to leave, the landline phone attached to the wall rang, filling the once silent room with a loud ringing buzz that would hurt your ears if you stood too close to it. Lesley walked over to it and reached out his hand.
"Aye! Don't answer that phone compagno!" the Dr. hissed. His jaw was clenched shut, and his eyes stared daggers into his assistant. Lesley gulped and walked out of the way.
The Dr. picked up the phone and slowly put the receiver to his ear, although he said nothing as he held it to his ear. Instead, he waited for the person on the other end to speak.
'Dr. it's me. I have some good news."
The head man breathed out a sigh of relief, recognizing the voice to be one of his colleagues. He whispered into the receiver:
"What is it then? Spit it out!"
"Well, for starters— I caught two more sea monsters. Yeah, just off the coast of Napoli. That makes our total ten as of currently."
"WHAT?!" the headman shouted a bit too loudly. His voice returned to a whisper, "Are you crazy? We both know capturing them from the sea is too risky! I cannot have you messing this up!"
'Relax, I made it out alive. So did the creatures... I think.'
"Where are you right now?" the head man asked immediately afterward, getting straight to the point. His voice was still a hoarse whisper.
'Right now I am still in Napoli. I was about to leave, but..."
"Get out of there as soon as possible, the longer you wait the more trouble I could be in," the head man interrupted. He started to sound frantic. "Look, I have no clue how you've managed to not get caught. Just... make sure you contain the sea monsters. Whatever you have to do, do it."
'Yes, Dr.. but I wasn't finished. You see, I think I may have found a location you might like. One you might be interested in. It's quite the hiding spot.'
"Tell me then."
'Off the southern coast of Genova, there are a few deep pits in the ocean. Called the Genova Sea Trenches."
"And you're confident in this information?"
'Absolutely.'
The head man sighed, thinking about the proposal. Eventually, he nodded and motioned for Lesley to go grab his car.
"Very well," the head man said finally. "I need you to go to Genova, find the most isolated place possible. Once you have, I need you to send me a telegram. This phone won't be of service any longer, so you won't be able to reach me. We'll be long gone by then anyway. I wouldn't do this with anyone else, but I trust that you can contain this information."
'Of course Dr, I will'
"Very good. Now, cut the cable immediately. Dispose of the device you're using to call me. I will hear from you another time, Amico."
The head man set down the phone, pulling it right off the wall with his bare hands. He seemed to take apart the phone with ease, pulling out all of the wires and components. He threw the remains into a small trash bag and handed it to his assistant.
"Here, take this Ragazzo della spazzatura. Dispose of it."
Lesley nodded, "Yes, Dr."
The head man walked over to the chair he was previously sitting in and grabbed a white suit jacket. It looked like the typical jacket that doctors and nurses would wear. He walked over to the corner of the room and dragged his hand across the carpet to get rid of the dust. He carefully lifted the carpet to reveal a large circular hatch on the floor, made of wooden planks and secured by metal bars that were set vertically on top of the wood. He pulled out a rusty-looking key and pushed it into the keyhole, turning it to make a loud 'click'.
Opening up the hatch, he walked down the tall staircase, with each step making a loud creaking noise. The plastered walls were falling apart, with some of the paint peeling off. The paint smelled of lead and ammonia, filling the room with a horrendous stench. The head man covered his nose with two fingers before he reached the bottom. Another door lay ahead of him, forcing him to pull out another key that was just as rusty as the last. He unlocked the second door and walked inside, shutting the door behind him.
Turning on the light switch, he took one look at the giant tank of water that stood in front of him. He smiled mischievously at what was inside of it for a few seconds, before he walked to the corner of the room, picking up a pile of soundproof foam. He carried it under his arm and walked out of the door again, this time not looking back at the large tank of water.
He shut the door, making a mental note to soundproof the room very soon. As he headed towards the stairs, he only heard one sound:
The agonizing screams of eight captured sea monsters, begging to be freed.
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