The Natives of This World Are So Fierce - Chapter 38: The Hercules Corporation's Security Guards
On the morning of the second day in Los Angeles, the man in charge from the Hercules Security Company stood at the mine entrance in Old Ode's scrapyard, along with the plump Old Ode and his family.
The Hercules Security Company was an established security firm that had been operating for nearly ten years. Most of its employees were military veterans, and it enjoyed an excellent reputation in the industry.
For a security company like this, handling any trouble themselves was always the first priority. Calling the police would only damage their reputation.
Three tough, muscular men from senior management had arrived that morning, one with a shrapnel scar still visible on his forehead. They had also brought a five-man squad.
Though they called it a mine, it was really just a large hole dug into the ground, with plenty of supports erected around it.
With a cigarette between his lips, Baru crouched on the ground and picked up a piece of clothing one of his company's employees had taken off. There were no scratches or marks on it.
There was even underwear beside it.
The makeshift guard booth was empty. The other guards' uniforms and undershirts lay on the ground, with their weapons scattered beside the clothes.
Their positions matched the company's standard patrol formation exactly: one set inside the booth, and two sets at each corner.
A scene took shape in Baru's mind.
At some point during the night, his company's five employees had been carrying out their duties as usual.
Then, suddenly, they had all put down their weapons and started stripping until they were completely naked.
He looked up at his two colleagues, whose brows were furrowed as well.
Clearly, this level of deduction was no challenge for these seasoned men.
What the hell happened here?
The mine wasn't actually very large, and the newly arrived five-man squad had already gone inside to search.
"Bzz-calling Eagle."
A transmission came over the radio from inside the mine.
"Bzz-go ahead."
"Bzz-we haven't found them. There are three branching tunnels in here, each less than twenty meters deep. We checked the rock layers and soil along every main passage. No sign of any hidden chambers."
After hearing the voice over the radio, Baru and the other two fell silent for a moment.
"All right. Come back out."
Behind them, Old Ode was at a loss. He had never dealt with anything like this before and didn't know whether he bore any responsibility as their employer. Five people had gone missing, after all.
Baru stood up and faced his employer.
"Mr. Ode, do you have any enemies, or any large outstanding debts?"
Old Ode thought back.
"Last week, I scraped a Cadillac at a gas station... uh, but I paid the owner fifty dollars, and we settled it... the day before yesterday, I called to complain to the power company and said some pretty nasty things... yesterday, I..."
"All right, Mr. Ode. If it's all petty stuff like that, there's no need to go on."
Old Ode shut his mouth.
He considered himself an ordinary man with a bit of good luck, and he rarely offended anyone.
Still, he cautiously asked a question.
"Mr. Baru, those five employees of yours..."
"Rest assured, Mr. Ode. I'll give you an explanation for our guards abandoning their posts. Tonight, we'll put a different team on duty, and I'll lead them myself. That is, if you don't terminate the contract."
The Hercules Security Company valued its reputation highly. Although the scene was strange, it wasn't beyond the realm of something a person could have arranged.
They already had information on their client, Old Ode. He was an honest, ordinary man.
If an enemy really was behind last night's incident, it could only have been an enemy of the Hercules Corporation.
Old Ode hadn't expected such a fearsome-looking group to provide such good service. He breathed a sigh of relief, and his opinion of the Hercules Corporation rose another notch.
Besides, deep down, Old Ode vaguely felt that the Hercules employees weren't to blame for what had happened last night.
He had a secret.
Yes, as the owner of the property, he had looked into the land and had it surveyed when he first bought it for a scrapyard.
He knew perfectly well that there shouldn't have been such an unusual crystal mine beneath the property. Even setting that aside, there definitely shouldn't have been such a huge underground cavity.
The way this mine had appeared was deeply strange!
Let's see how tonight goes. If something happens again...
Naturally, Old Ode was worried that more guards might disappear that night, but his desire for money drove him to conceal what he knew.
He deceived himself into believing that his original survey had simply been incomplete or insufficiently thorough, and that the guards' disappearance must have been someone's doing-an enemy of theirs, for instance.
After all, who knew whom these veterans had offended during their military service? Plenty of movies featured retired heroes facing revenge, didn't they?
In a small grove some distance away, Jack and Joseph lay perched in a tree, each holding a pair of binoculars as they watched what was happening inside the scrapyard.
The events of the previous night had frightened their little group. They wanted some reassurance, and they also badly wanted to know what had happened to the five guards.
So they had brought their gear over as soon as daylight broke.
"What are they saying?"
"No idea."
"Looks like they haven't found those five guards?"
"Yeah. Look, the team that went into the mine is coming out."
Through the binoculars, they could see the search team's leader spread his hands at Baru.
"So they didn't find them?"
The two fell silent.
Jack lowered his binoculars.
"We clearly saw those guards strip naked and go into the mine..."
Joseph looked at him and spoke uncertainly.
"Maybe... maybe those five came back out after we left..."
"And walked away without any clothes?"
They fell silent again.
None of the four had told anyone about this yet. In truth, they didn't quite know how to handle it.
It should have had nothing to do with them, but emotionally, they couldn't distance themselves from it.
Of course, they had no intention of rushing into the scrapyard and telling everyone they had been there last night, or what they had seen.
Jack raised his binoculars again, and Joseph instinctively followed suit.
"They're shaking hands with Old Ode."
"Those guards aren't leaving?"
Through the binoculars, they saw that Old Ode and his family seemed to have left, but the guards remained. Instead, they gathered up the clothes and weapons on the ground and began taking up guard positions, clearly intending to take over the shift.
The two lowered their binoculars again and exchanged a look.
"Are we coming tonight?"
At Jack's question, Joseph swallowed.
Yet, as if possessed, he answered, "Yes!"
Time flew by, and soon night fell again.
The other two had to work the night shift, so only Jack and Joseph came.
This time, they brought a bag of food and arrived early at the same tree beside the grove where they had watched that morning. In any case, they didn't dare get too close to the scrapyard.
Though they had no night-vision goggles, their binoculars were good quality, and the lights on the property were bright enough for them to make out the general situation.
But they had clearly overlooked one thing.
Just what sort of people worked for the Hercules Security Company?
They were retired military elites, or, at the very least, battle-hardened veterans.
After five men had disappeared the previous night, would they stupidly settle for setting up positions and patrolling at a distance the next day? Would they just wait for history to repeat itself?
Baru and the others' first assumption was that an unknown enemy had struck, so naturally, they had made preparations.
The guards on the distant property were merely the visible sentries. As for those concealed in the shadows...
Jack and Joseph had just opened a bag of sealed sandwiches and hadn't even taken a bite.
"Ah!" "Ah!"
"Mmph!"...
Both were yanked from the low tree by powerful hands at the same time, their mouths clamped shut as terror spread across their faces.
After scanning the surroundings once more with his colleague, a Black man spoke into his radio.
"Calling Eagle. We've caught two suspicious individuals here."
Sitting inside the guard booth, Baru put down the pistol he had been cleaning.
"Bring them over."
This makes up for yesterday's second update.