Chapter Seven: The Red Knight

It had been weeks since Lena came to the station, but Reyes never stopped watching.

The Red Velvet sat under the same flickering neon, unchanged on the outside. Inside, girls danced and men drank—the same as every other night.

He sat in his car across the street, same unmarked sedan, same angle on the club doors—but his notepad had grown thicker, filled with patterns, plates, shifts, faces. Riko never stayed past two. Milo came and went like clockwork. Luis lingered on the sidewalk, always watching.

Every day after Riko left the club, a few officers would follow him, but he never took the same route. As if he knew he was being watched.

A junior officer’s voice crackled through the radio:

“Target just pulled off the highway—he’s moving eastbound toward the river... sh*t—he took an alley, we lost him.”

Reyes gritted his teeth. Another blown tail. Riko was too careful. Or someone tipped him off.

He tossed the radio into the passenger seat. His eyes flicked back to the club.

Tonight, he’d