LOGINWallace tapped his terminal screen twice, like he didn't trust it the first time. "Boss. The visitor log for the garage twenty-three — it's gone. Wiped clean."Moss looked up from her own screen. "Wiped how? Corrupted, deleted, what?""Deleted. Timestamped three-eleven this morning." Wallace turned the monitor toward her. "Whoever did it used a lieutenant's credentials. Precinct-level access, not something a desk clerk could touch.""Which lieutenant?""System just says the badge number. Voss." Wallace scrolled. "I pulled his shift log — he wasn't even in the building at three AM. Somebody used his login without him."Moss set her coffee down harder than she meant to, and it sloshed over the rim onto her knuckles. She didn't seem to notice."So either Voss is lying about where he was," she said, "or somebody inside this building is good enough to walk through his badge like it's their own front door.""That's not the part that's going to keep me up tonight," Wallace said. "The part th
Kenji sat on the edge of the motel bed, phone pressed to his ear, Sato standing by the window with the curtain pulled back an inch."It's me," Kenji said, when the line finally connected to Tanaka. "Don't hang up. I'm not calling to negotiate.""You have thirty seconds," Tanaka said."Tell the Chairman I'm coming in empty-handed except for one thing. I have the Singapore ledger — the real one, the one Shinjiro never found. I'm not selling it. I'm bringing it to him." Kenji paused, made himself say the next part slowly. "Tell him I want to kneel, not bargain."There was a long silence on the other end. Then Tanaka said, "Come alone. Sato waits in the car."The penthouse still smelled of spent powder and something coppery underneath the air conditioning. Kenji made himself look at Shinjiro's body on the way in — a half-second, no longer — and then fixed his eyes on the back of Ichiro's head instead.Ichiro didn't turn around right away. He stood at the window with both hands on the cane
Shinjiro kicked the door frame once, then kicked it again until the wood crashed inward.Five mercenaries flooded the office, rifles up. "Clear left! Clear right!"Ichiro stood by the window, hands resting on his cane."Where are the bank codes?!" Shinjiro said, jamming his rifle barrel into Ichiro's face.Ichiro didn't flinch. "You bring five rented thugs and think you're a king?""You left me at the armory!" Shinjiro shouted, finger tightening on the trigger. "You tried handing me to the Feds!""Because you're a loose cannon," Ichiro said. "You don't run a syndicate with brute force. You're just a street thug."Shinjiro smashed the rifle stock across Ichiro's jaw. The old man stumbled back, blood on his lip, but gripped his cane and stood right back up."Sign the transfer!" Shinjiro screamed, fisting his lapels. "Give me the routing codes or I put a bullet in your head!""Pull the trigger," Ichiro said, staring straight into his eyes. "Kill me and watch those accounts lock forever.
Rain hit the rusted roof as Shinjiro's SUVs pulled into the South District warehouse one by one.Ten of his original loyal hitters jumped out, guns up, securing the doors.Shinjiro stepped onto a wooden crate as the recalled mercenaries filed back into the room. Forty armed men filled the dark space."Ichiro left us to rot at the armory," Shinjiro said, eyes sweeping across the crowd. "He sat in his penthouse and tried to hand us to the Feds."His captain stepped up. "The old man controls the bank accounts, Shinjiro.""I hold the guns!" Shinjiro shot back, pointing at his chest. "And guns take the money. We take that tower tonight."The mercenaries cheered, racking rifle bolts and checking tactical gear.Shinjiro felt his pulse racing—this wasn't a desperate retreat anymore. With his ten core loyalists and thirty hired pros back under one roof, he held real power again.The captain nodded, turning to the men. "You heard him!"Shinjiro hopped off the crate, looking at his crew. "Get so
Rain hit the sedan as Rachel Moss stepped out, pulling her coat tight. Hugo stood by the doors, arms crossed."He's inside," Hugo said.Moss walked past him into the library, where Dominic was pouring bourbon."Call off your dogs, Dominic," Moss said, ignoring the glass he slid across the desk.Dominic took a sip. "Shinjiro hit my pier, Rachel.""I got a federal judge to sign warrants an hour ago!" Moss's hand cracked against the desk as she leaned in. "My task force is locking down the city to grab Shinjiro legally. Don't mess up my case.""Warrants take three months of paperwork," Dominic said, setting his glass down. "A bullet takes half a second. Shinjiro brought dynamite to my dock. I don't wait for judges.""Director's watching this building right now," Moss warned. "Start a street war, and he'll drag your whole family into a cell."Dominic came around the desk and stopped in front of her. "Tell your director to try it. Get out of my house."Moss glared at him, realizing he wasn
The jet's tires screeched on the wet tarmac.The metal stairs unfolded. Ichiro stepped into the rain, leaning on his cane. He walked right past them to the armored SUV.Ichiro's aide, Saito, opened the door. "Welcome to Nova City, sir.""Where's Tanaka?" Ichiro asked, sliding inside."Waiting at the tower.""Drive," Ichiro said. "We have work to do."Down in the safehouse, Sophia's hand cracked against her desk. "Holy shit. Someone just took out the European mirrors."Lina turned her chair. "Took out how?""DDoS hit the main sites, and two of our syndication partners pulled the piece under legal threat," Sophia said, tapping her screen. "The archive mirrors are still live, but the main links are all dead."Marvin looked up from his phone. "It gets worse. Look at the local feed. Some fall guy just walked into the FBI and confessed.""A scapegoat," Lina said. "Ichiro bought the media and gave the Feds a dummy in the same hour."Marvin shook his head, cursing under his breath. "The mayor
A heavy metallic bang echoed from the far end of the vault—the main fire door being kicked off its hinges.Lina didn't think. She dived behind a row of collapsed iron cabinets, squeezing into a gap between rusted steel and the cold concrete wall. The space was so tight it bruised her ribs, but she
The files screamed as she cranked the handle. Rust and old grease protested the intrusion, the screech echoing like a dying animal in the Sub-Level 3 tomb.Lina ignored the noise. She pulled drawer 404. Inside, the missing piece of the manifest sat in a clean plastic sleeve—Thorne’s last middle fin
Behind the counter, the espresso machine screeched, drowning out the gray noise of Nova City's morning rush.Lina Rossi sat in the back, watching the street through the rain-streaked glass. Across from her, Marvin James—the Herald’s star-eyed intern—was busy murdering a plastic straw with his teeth
The fourth-floor walk-up felt like a goddamn mountain tonight. Lina’s boots dragged over the cracked linoleum, every muscle in her neck screaming.She was fumbling for her keys when 4A creaked open. A chain rattled, and Mrs. Romano’s wrinkled face poked out, looking like a worried tortoise."Lina?







