From Bullets To Billions novel Chapter 614

Chapter 614: No Witnesses

The two young women traveled incredibly cautiously through the deserted financial district. Their hearts were pounding in their chests. They were genuinely afraid that there might be more fake construction workers patrolling inside the perimeter, or perhaps an actual hazardous materials team dealing with the reported gas.

They desperately didn’t want to get caught trespassing and be placed in serious legal trouble. But even worse, if it really was a genuine, life-threatening gas leak, they wanted to be completely out of the toxic area as soon as physically possible.

"This whole entire thing feels incredibly strange, right?" Cindy whispered, her voice echoing slightly off the empty glass storefronts.

"Yeah, it’s completely void of people. It feels a bit like we walked straight into a ghost town," Sheri said, hugging her coat tightly around herself as she continued to walk, leading the way. This was her daily commute to her workplace, after all, but without the usual bustling crowds of corporate employees and coffee vendors, the sprawling concrete avenues looked alien and intimidating.

"If there was an actual, city-wide gas leak that required shutting down four blocks, though... shouldn’t we be able to clearly smell the gas by now?" Cindy asked, sniffing the crisp morning air.

"I don’t know if it actually works the exact same way with commercial pipelines, right?" Sheri replied, glancing nervously at the sewer grates.

"No, I’m pretty sure it does," Cindy argued quietly. "Because natural gas is completely odorless. The utility companies artificially add that rotten egg smell into the gas lines specifically so you know when there’s a dangerous leak. But if it’s a huge, overwhelming volume of it, would we still be able to smell it, or would it just choke us out instantly?"

"They artificially add the smell in? Well, that’s certainly a first for me," Sheri replied, shaking her head at the trivia.

But as they got closer—now only around a tense ten-minute walk away from the towering Fortis building—Sheri suddenly froze and held up her hand, signaling Cindy to stop.

So far, they still had yet to see a single living soul patrolling the inner streets. But now, she could clearly hear noises echoing off the skyscrapers.

"I’ll kill you! Die!" a guttural, furious voice shouted in the distance.

It wasn’t just one isolated voice, either. As they strained their ears, the terrifying symphony of combat washed over them. There were several agonizing groans and heavy grunts. They could hear people shouting out in raw physical pain, the sharp clatter of metal, and men swearing ruthlessly at each other non-stop.

"Is that... is that a fight?" Cindy asked, her eyes widening. "But it sounds like way more than just one or two people. Just as I thought! That official gas leak report was nothing but a fake cover-up. They’re doing some seriously shady, illegal stuff out here in the open, and we have to see what it is!"

Sheri desperately wanted to reach out and grab Cindy’s arm to stop her from moving forward. Her stomach churned. She was still feeling intense, lingering fear and PTSD from the traumatizing time when she had been kidnapped by street thugs. The sounds of brutal violence echoing down the street triggered a cold sweat on the back of her neck.

She honestly wondered why Cindy didn’t inherently feel the exact same paralyzing fear. But maybe her friend was just so blindly driven by the desperate cause to find out the truth and help Abby’s memory that she was completely ignoring her own survival instincts.

As the two of them cautiously continued creeping forward, sticking tightly to the shadows of the alleyways, it didn’t take long for them to see something that was bizarre and stood out drastically. Blocking the avenue just ahead were an incredible number of unmarked vans and black vehicles that were parked haphazardly, entirely barricading the front courtyard of the Billion Bloodline building.

"What on earth is this? I’ve never seen anything like this before in the city," Cindy whispered, continuing to edge recklessly forward toward the vehicles.

Again, blaring alarm bells were ringing non-stop in Sheri’s head.

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