The Rise From The Dust

Chapter 14: The Red Mirage

The headlight of Maya’s motorcycle cut through the thick, swirling river fog as they roared back into the deep Underbelly. They pulled into an abandoned, rusted train depot—a neutral ground Maya had set up weeks ago.

​The engine died, leaving only the sound of heavy, ragged breathing and the steady dripping of condensation from the iron rafters.

​Kesh slid off the back of the bike, stumbling slightly. He immediately leaned against a concrete pillar, his hand pressed against his ribs. His face was pale, his jacket smeared with drywall dust and Raymond’s blood from the study. He looked completely exhausted, but his eyes were alive with a dark, manic energy.

​Shuga stepped off the bike smoothly. He reached up, tearing the black tactical mask from his face. His expression was a mask of its own—carved from the same unyielding stone as his father’s memory.

​"You blew the play, Kesh," Shuga said, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous growl. He dropped the black leather folder containing the company manifests onto a rusted metal drum. "We were supposed to be ghosts. Now Raymond’s entire security apparatus is going to be hunting us down by dawn."

​"I hurt him," Kesh spat back, a fierce, bitter smile crossing his lips. "I made him bleed. I let him know the lower district doesn't forget. That's what matters."

​"What matters was the network," Shuga countered, stepping closer, his eyes narrowing. "You said you wanted to dismantle them piece by piece. You almost got us killed for a personal grudge."

​"We got the documents, didn't we?" Kesh gestured aggressively at the folder on the drum. "The shell companies, the routing numbers—it's all there. We won tonight, corporate."

​Shuga looked at Kesh, his eyes tracking the slight, unnatural stiffness in Kesh's right coat pocket. His trained eyes had caught the exact moment in the smoky study when Kesh had slipped the encrypted red data drive away. He knew exactly what Kesh had done. He had heard Raymond begging for his life, mentioning a deed that belonged to Marcus.

​Shuga knew Kesh was hiding a massive piece of the puzzle. But Shuga kept his lips sealed. He didn't reveal that he knew about the drive, nor did he reveal that the "Marcus" Raymond had been terrified of was his own father.

​People wear masks, the phantom voice of Marcus echoed in his mind. Let him keep his mask on until it's time to rip it off.

​"Yeah," Shuga said softly, his voice dangerously calm as he stepped back, playing along with the lie. "We got what we came for."

​Maya walked between them, her eyes darting from Shuga’s locked jaw to Kesh’s tense posture. She could smell the thick layer of deception in the room. She looked at Shuga, her gaze lingering on his cloth-wrapped knuckles. She knew he was hiding something massive, and she could tell he didn't trust Kesh any further than he could throw him.

​"The sun is going to be up in two hours," Maya said, her voice firm as she tapped her wrench against the bike's frame. "Raymond is alive, which means Silas and Elena are already locking down their assets. If you two are going to decode these files, you need to do it fast before the keys are changed."

​Kesh patted his jacket pocket, his fingers subtly brushing against the hidden red drive. He had no idea that the file he held belonged to the father of the man standing right in front of him. He thought he just had a multi-million-dollar blackmail token to squeeze Silas with.

​"I'll take the folder back to my vault and start decrypting the routing numbers," Kesh said, picking up the black leather folder from the drum. He looked at Shuga, his mask of camaraderie firmly back in place. "We rest up for twenty-four hours. Then we figure out where Elena is hiding the money."

​"Sounds like a plan," Shuga replied, his face completely unreadable.

​Kesh turned and melted into the foggy shadows of the train depot, disappearing into the dark tunnels of the Underbelly.

​The moment Kesh was out of earshot, Maya stepped up to Shuga, her arms crossed. "He's lying to you. You know that, right? He pocketed something from Raymond's desk. I saw it through the window."

​Shuga didn't look at her. He slowly began unwrapping the blood-stained cloth from his knuckles, his skin raw but hardened.

​"I know," Shuga whispered, his eyes burning with a cold, terrifying intelligence. "He took a red drive. Raymond said it holds a deed that belonged to my father. Kesh thinks he's playing me. He thinks I'm just a hired fist."

​He tied the loose end of the cloth around his wrist, looking out into the dark tunnel where Kesh had gone.

​"Let him run the files," Shuga said, a ruthless, calculated smile touching his lips. "Let him think he's the chess master. I'm going to let him lead me straight to Silas. And when the time comes... I'll take what belongs to my father, and I'll bury the rest."