The Buro Group

When I returned to the office, I was the only employee left. As I looked around at all the empty desks, I couldn’t help but feel a little stung. Why hadn’t the boss chosen me for whatever was going on in the conference room? 

Looking into the reflection of those dark, tinted windows, I wondered what could possibly be going on in there. What was worth hiding with premium window tinting?

Suddenly, the door to the conference room opened out toward me. 

“Enter, Teddy,” said an ominous voice. 

I looked around, wondering who the voice could have been referring to. Seeing no one, I realised it must have been me. “But… my name is Fredward,” I said. 

There was silence for a moment before the voice spoke again. “Then enter, Fredward.”

So enter I did. Perhaps it was foolish to do as the voice suggested, given how all of my coworkers had disappeared, but I needed to know what was in that room. I’d sworn the journalist’s oath that I would get to the bottom of this mystery. I’d tried the conventional way – breaking and entering into an office window tinting business near Melbourne, but that had backfired. I was desperate, so… enter I did. 

Inside, the conference room appeared just as I had always known it – dozens of chairs set in rows, with a big whiteboard against the wall closest to the door. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, except for the high-quality window film that had been placed over the glass.

After a moment of searching the dark room, I finally found something odd: a trap door in the back corner. It had been flung open, revealing a ladder that descended into complete darkness. 

Did I dare go down? I think you know the answer. As a former student of investigative journalism, I was bound by code to do so. I took the first step down, wondering what awaited me at the bottom. Finally, I’d know the truth about this whole thing.

“You would be Redman, I assume,” said Lorenzo as he knelt beside the man lying in the dirt.

Redman groaned but looked into the tattooed man’s eyes. “That’d be me.”

“You’ve got a bit of explaining to do. Master Gideon does not like to be stood up. And I do not like it when my prey gets away from me.”

Had he a free hand, Redman would have wiped the sweat from his brow. With the blazing artificial sun above him, Redman was glad it would cover his nervousness. “Well, it’s a long story about a hostage and some frosted window tinting services. Probably easiest if I just tell Gideon himself, you know?”

Lorenzo growled, then pulled Redman up as he stood. With the strength of a bear, he hauled Redman off the ground. Redman experienced a sudden rush of vertigo as Lorenzo threw him over a shoulder and began walking toward the mansion.

“Yep,” Redman said as the blood rushed to his head. “It was pretty crazy. It’s not every day I get mistaken for someone who works in the office window tinting business. Near Melbourne, most people just think of me as… well, someone not really worth thinking about.” 

Redman wasn’t sure why he was talking – it wasn’t likely to make his story seem any more plausible. Perhaps it was simply due to the fact that he was feeling lightheaded already, causing him to talk when he should have kept his mouth shut.

“So, let me get this straight,” said Lorenzo. “You came to a residential building and got snatched up by a business for commercial window tinting. Care to explain that?”

Whoops. That was a good point and a definitely slip-up from Redman. Despite the headache forming, he scrambled through his brain for an explanation. “Just because they offer commercial window tinting services, that doesn’t mean they don’t do residential. Besides, they figured a contractor for Gideon was going to be the best of the best, regardless of which type of tinting they were doing. A fair assumption.”

Lorenzo simply huffed and continued to carry Redman toward the mansion.