2024-04-07 23:53:02
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Chapter 54
Chapter 54Jackson stayed late again, the office quiet except for the hum of the servers somewhere behind the walls. He'd spent the day chasing three more names Theo had flagged, each one dissolving into a dead end the same way Dolan and Reyes had before them. Frustration had settled into something closer to exhaustion by the time he finally allowed himself to circle back to the theory he'd been avoiding all week.He pulled up Vincent's file again, studying the photo longer this time, forcing himself to look past the obvious differences and consider what months of resentment and reduced circumstances might have changed about a person.The build in the footage was leaner than Jackson remembered, but people lost weight under stress, especially the kind of stress that came from watching your career shrink in front of colleagues who used to answer to you. He pulled up older footage from Vincent's time as team leader, years back, comparing his posture then against the posture
Chapter 53
Chapter 53Diego's patience had worn thin by the time Javier arrived at the house that evening, summoned without explanation beyond a single terse message. He found Diego in the study again, a bottle of whiskey already half empty on the desk in front of him."Sit," Diego said, not looking up.Javier sat, choosing his words carefully. "Something happen?""The resort deal," Diego said. "It's not moving as fast as I was told it would.""Alejandro's partner wanted a background check," Javier said. "It's a minor delay. Marcus's paperwork will hold up under scrutiny. It always does.""A minor delay was supposed to be days, not weeks." Diego finally looked up, his eyes bloodshot with exhaustion or anger, Javier couldn't tell which. "I have people to answer to as well, Javier. This isn't only my patience being tested."Javier understood immediately who he meant. Diego rarely spoke about the men above him in the organization, the ones who'd fronted the resources f
Chapter 52
Chapter 52Amy arrived at the mansion the next morning as instructed, the sealed envelope from Sophia tucked carefully inside her handbag. She'd barely slept the night before, more out of excitement at being trusted with something than any real sense of importance attached to the errand itself.Sophia met her in the entryway, already dressed for the day, checking her phone as Amy approached."Good, you're here," Sophia said, barely glancing up. "The address is on the envelope. Just hand it directly to whoever answers, don't leave it with anyone else.""Got it," Amy said, patting her bag reassuringly. "I'll head there now.""Thank you," Sophia said, already turning away, her attention elsewhere before Amy had even reached the door.Judy arrived just as Amy was leaving, breezing past her with barely a glance. "Oh, you're still here. I thought you'd have run your little errand by now.""I'm heading there now," Amy said."Good." Judy didn't slow down, alr
Chapter 51
Chapter 51Jackson came in early the next morning, coffee in hand, still turning over the fragment of memory that had followed him home the night before. He couldn't place it fully, only that it felt tied to his early days as team leader, back when half the department had resented him for being handed a position some of them believed they deserved instead.He pulled up the old personnel roster from that period, scrolling through faces he hadn't thought about in months. Most of them had moved on naturally, promotions, transfers, a few resignations that had nothing to do with him personally. He paused on a handful of names that had left under less amicable circumstances, cross referencing each one against the timeline of the maintenance footage.None of them matched cleanly, though one name gave him pause longer than the others.Vincent.He stared at the name for a moment, an old, uncomfortable memory surfacing, the confrontation in the office when Vincent had humi
Chapter 50
Chapter 50Jake's stitches from the fence had healed enough that he barely noticed them anymore, but Miguel still watched him more closely during briefings than he used to, an unspoken acknowledgment of how close things had come to going much worse."You're cleared for regular duty," Miguel said, closing the folder on his desk. "But you're not going anywhere near Oscar or that warehouse again. That's final."Jake nodded. He'd expected the decision and didn't have the energy left to argue against it. "Understood.""Good." Miguel leaned back in his chair. "I've got two new guys picking up that thread. Slower, more careful. I'd rather lose time than lose people."Nathan, seated beside Jake, cleared his throat. "What about the rest of us? Are we changing how we operate now that they've shown they're willing to shoot?""Yes," Miguel said simply. "No one goes anywhere alone anymore, on duty or off. I want check ins every two hours during active surveillance. If any
Chapter 49
Chapter 49Oscar hadn't slept properly since the shooting. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the man's face at the warehouse, the cold, calculating way he'd looked at the chaos he'd caused like it meant nothing to him at all. Diego's people didn't care about consequences the way Oscar had assumed they would when Sophia first brought him into this.He'd thought it would be simple. Show up, play the part, keep Sophia close, wait for the money to move and disappear somewhere far away with her once it was over. Nobody had mentioned guns. Nobody had mentioned men who'd shoot at strangers in broad daylight over a little surveillance.He met the man from the warehouse again two days later, this time in a quieter location, a back booth in a diner on the edge of town where nobody would recognize either of them."You look tired," the man said, sliding into the seat across from him."I haven't slept," Oscar admitted. "That thing at the warehouse. It's got Alejandro's pe
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