The God's Game System

Chapter 4

The heavy steel sliding door of the fish-packing warehouse creaked open, letting the cool sea breeze mix with the sharp smell of salt and old concrete.

Andres sat behind a rusted folding desk at the far end of the floor. He wore a heavy leather jacket and held a unlit cigar between his fingers. Four large men stood around him, their hands resting lazily near their waistbands.

When Leo walked through the doorway, Andres blinked in genuine surprise. He lowered his cigar and leaned forward across the metal table.

"Look at you," Andres said, his rough voice carrying across the empty floor. "The driver swore he hit you at fifty miles an hour. He said your ribs were crushed into powder. Yet here you are, walking into my warehouse on your own two feet."

"I am a hard man to kill, Andres," Leo said. He kept his hands in his jacket pockets and stopped ten paces away from the desk.

Andres let out a dry laugh. "You have thirty minutes before midnight, Leo. Tell me you brought my fifty thousand dollars, or tell me which hospital bed your sister is lying in right now."

Leo pulled his smartphone from his pocket. He tapped the screen with a steady thumb.

"Check your phone," Leo replied.

Andres frowned. He reached into his coat, pulled out his device, and stared down at the screen. A loud notification chime rang out in the quiet warehouse.

His eyes widened slightly as he read the screen. "Fifty thousand dollars. Bank transfer complete."

"The debt is cleared," Leo said. "The interest, the principal, everything we agreed on three months ago. My sister is off-limits."

Andres set his phone down on the metal desk and slowly stood up. He looked Leo up and down, examining his calm posture, his unblinking eyes, and his complete lack of fear. The loan shark stroked his jaw, a greedy smile spreading across his face.

"Where did a broke loser like you get fifty thousand dollars in two hours?" Andres asked softly. "You were groveling at your wife's feet this evening. Did you rob a bank, Leo?"

"How I got the money is none of your business," Leo said.

"It becomes my business when I realize you might have more," Andres said, stepping out from behind the desk. His four goons immediately stepped forward with him, closing the distance between them and Leo. "You walked in here all by yourself. No weapons. No bodyguards. You paid fifty thousand dollars without batting an eye, which tells me you have more money sitting in that account."

"Do not do this, Andres," Leo said quietly.

"Take his phone," Andres ordered his men, pointing a thick finger at Leo. "Drain every single cent he has left in that account. Once the transfer goes through, break both of his legs so he remembers who runs these docks."

The two largest men stepped toward Leo, reaching for his arms.

Leo did not back up. He did not raise his fists. He simply raised his wrist, looked down at his watch, and then looked back up at Andres.

"You have fifty-four seconds to call off your men, Andres," Leo said. His voice was completely flat, devoid of any tremor or panic.

Andres stopped in his tracks, laughing aloud. "Are you threatening me? In my own warehouse?"

"Before I left the hospital, I had twenty thousand dollars left over," Leo explained, speaking clearly so every man in the room could hear him. "I did not spend it on weapons. I did not spend it on a getaway driver. I used it to hire the Red Mask Syndicate."

The laughter in the warehouse died instantly. The four goons froze, exchanging uneasy glances. The Red Mask Syndicate was the most violent enforcement crew operating on the north side of the city, known for completely wiping out rival crews over territory disputes.

"You are bluffing," Andres spat, though his smile vanished. "The Red Mask Syndicate does not take jobs from random street trash like you."

"They do when you offer them twenty thousand dollars cash upfront," Leo replied smoothly. "And they certainly do when you send them a live GPS pin to this exact warehouse, along with an anonymous tip that you are holding half a million dollars in untraceable cartel narcotics in your office safe tonight."

Andres felt a sudden drop in his stomach. "You are lying."

"Look at your security monitors, Andres," Leo said, pointing toward the wall behind the desk where four black-and-white camera feeds flickered. "See for yourself."

Andres spun around and stared at the screens.

On the bottom-left monitor, three unmarked black vans pulled up directly to the outer steel gates of the warehouse yard. The side doors slid open simultaneously. Over a dozen men in heavy tactical gear and ballistic vests poured out into the rain, carrying heavy breaching tools and assault rifles.

"Boss..." one of the goons whispered, his face turning pale. "Look at the gate. Those are Red Mask trucks."

Andres stared at the screen, a cold sweat breaking out across the back of his neck. His four goons instinctively took two steps back from Leo, their attention completely shattered by the threat arriving at their front door.

"You set me up," Andres breathed, turning back to face Leo with wide, furious eyes.

"I set up a dead-man's switch," Leo corrected him, holding up his phone between his fingers. "My phone is running an automated timer. In forty seconds, if I do not enter a four-digit stand-down code into this screen, the system automatically sends a confirmation message to the Red Mask leader outside. The message tells them that the cash is in the back room and that you are preparing to destroy the evidence."

The heavy thump of iron boots echoed from the outer courtyard, followed by the metallic screech of the main yard gate being cut open.

"Thirty-five seconds, Andres," Leo said, standing motionless in the center of the room. "They are going to breach those doors, and they are not coming to talk. You can try to shoot me right now, but if I drop this phone, nobody enters the code. And if nobody enters the code, every single person in this warehouse dies in the next two minutes."