Levi scoffs and steps in front of a keypad before entering a code and leaning down. My mouth drops open as it scans his eyes and I gape in wonder. “That did not just scan his eye,” I say, unable to wrap my head around all of this. I mean, fuck! It looks like the kind of shit you see in a James Bond movie.
Marcus grins as the door unlocks and automatically slides back, allowing us entry. “The retinal scanner was my idea,” he says proudly. “Pretty fucking cool, right?”
“Super cool, and not over the top at all,” I smirk, following the boys inside.
“You do what you gotta do,” Levi says, walking out in front of us as though he knows the place like the back of his hand. “People like Gia Moretti would do anything to find a place like this. We have to keep it protected.”
My brows shoot up. “Then why would your father allow you access? Wouldn’t he have scrubbed your eyeballs from the system to keep you out?”
Roman shrugs his shoulders. “If the old bastard could, he would have.”
We walk into a dark room and go through a second security check before another big door slides open, spilling light out into the dark space. My eyes bug out of my head seeing the insanity before me. It’s like a shopping mall at Christmas time. People working like slaves with stacks upon stacks of product.
“What the ever-loving fuck is this?” I breathe, following the boys lead as they walk into the clinical space. I can’t help but notice just how cold it is, and as I glance around, I realize that all I see is products perfectly stacked and ready to go, each one of them labeled with Giovanni’s mark. “How does all of this stuff get here?” I ask, unable to tear my gaze away from everything as I slink after the boys.
Marcus glances back at me. “It doesn’t. Everything is manufactured right here.”
“What?” I grunt, pausing as I scan the giant room again. Maybe I missed something. “Where?”
“Downstairs,” Marcus says. “This fucker is three levels deep. We keep everything stacked up here for easy distribution.”
“No shit.”
A cocky grin pulls at his lips as I roll my eyes, realizing that these guys are so much deeper into their father’s business than I originally thought. Hell, they even seem like the brains of the operation.
We stop in front of a big metal door and Roman enters a code into a keypad. A little light flicks red three times before turning green. We hear big metal locks unlatching, and with that, Roman pushes against the door and walks in.
I follow with wide eyes as we step through to a computer tech’s holy trinity. Computers line every desk, big, small, even ones with rounded screens. There are things I’ve never even seen before or know what they do, but damn, they look expensive. I doubt even the FBI or CIA have this kind of technology. No wonder the boys have gotten away with the type of shit they do for so long.
“Hey, Mick,” Roman says, walking up to the guy running the world’s most elaborate computer lab. “How’s it going?”
The guy, Mick, pushes back from his desk chair, and as he turns to face us, his eyes come straight to mine. He clearly wasn’t expecting a tag along. He eyes me warily but quickly decides that if I’d been welcomed in by the boys, all is good. “Hey man,” he says, leaning into Roman and doing that weird hand thing that guys do before reaching around and clapping him on the back. He gives Levi and Marcus a welcoming nod before turning and facing a big, frosted glass wall.
I watch him with a curious stare as he steps around his impressive desk and moves toward the wall, pressing a button that has my mouth dropping open again. The frost on the glass fades away, showing off the massive warehouse with the best vantage point to see every angle of the room.
The workers all go about their jobs and I inch closer to the glass wall. “Nobody even blinked,” I mutter, knowing damn well that had I been on the other side of the glass and the boss’ three sons just walked in, I’d at least risk a sneaky glance. “Are they just that disciplined, or do they not give a shit?”
Mick smirks with a proud sparkle in his eye. “We’re completely concealed in here. It’s like the two-way glass you see in those interrogation rooms in cop shows. We see them, but they can’t see us.”
“No shit,” I breathe, completely impressed.
“Yeah,” he says. “Not gonna lie, I was impressed by it when I first started here, but the amount of wedgies being plucked, ball grabs, and dumb shit I’ve witnessed because they don’t know I’m watching makes it a little less cool.”
“Can we get back on track?” Roman says, looking bored. “We don’t have all night.”
Mick clears his throat, and his eyes widen just a fraction, proving that while he may be on friendly terms with Roman, he’s still shit scared of him, and I don’t blame the guy. He’s probably the guy Giovanni hired to scrub clean every surveillance camera in town whenever the boys decide to sneak out at night.
“Right,” Mick says, nodding and shuffling over so that the boys each get an equal view of the warehouse floor. “Everything is right on schedule. We have deliveries going out tomorrow night and a few local guys making collections over the next few hours. The shipment set for Mexico is experiencing a few hold ups though.”
“Why?” Roman growls, his sharp stare slicing back to Mick’s.
“We’ve heard some whispers about a raid. They’re expecting us to make a move tomorrow, so we thought we would hold off for a few days. I haven’t been able to get a hold of your father, which is why I called you down here. Figured you’d have a little insight on that.”
“Who tipped them off?” Levi questions, stepping closer to the glass wall and slowly scanning over each of the workers.
Mick shakes his head. “I’ve checked over everyone, gone through their phone records and traced their movements. Our guys are clean. This came from somewhere else.”
“Fuck,” Marcus says, his gaze falling back to Roman’s. “After the ball last night, it could be anyone.”