Chapter 6 - The Rat in the Inner Circle
The sun was just beginning to drag its pale winter light across the frozen surface of Lake Michigan when Marcus re-entered the main house.
The estate was on high alert. Every exterior guard post had been doubled. Thermal drones hummed quietly in the overhead airspace, sweeping the perimeter for any unauthorized heat signatures. Inside, the atmosphere was thick with the silent, coiled tension of a criminal empire preparing for war.
In the second-floor sitting room, Maya was fast asleep on a velvet sofa, wrapped in a heavy wool blanket. Titan lay curled on the floor beside her, his massive chest rising and falling in rhythmic unison with the child's breathing.
Marcus stood in the doorway, watching them for a long moment before turning to Vane, who waited in the hallway.
“Where is Salvo?” Marcus asked quietly.
Salvo was one of Marcus’s original capos—a man who had managed the northern dockyards for seven years and handled the syndicate’s day-to-day logistics with ruthless efficiency.
“He didn't check in for the midnight briefing,” Vane replied, his hand resting near his sidearm. “We tried his cell. It’s pinging from an abandoned warehouse near the port authority. The same sector where Agent Vance’s old federal unit used to operate.”
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Marcus’s eyes hardened into two pieces of polished flint.
“Get the cars ready,” Marcus said softly. “We’re going to the port.”
