The Cost of Seeking Shelter in the Shadow of a Syndicate Boss
The lights in the office flickered, died for a second, then came back on under the emergency generator’s yellow hum.
“Diverting now,” Marco said, typing furiously.
“We need to drain the reserve account too,” I said. “He has two million in a Cayman trust.”
“I need the secondary authorization,” Marco said.
“The code is zero-seven-one-four-eight-nine,” I said.
“It’s processing,” Marco said.
He pointed at a progress bar on the screen.
Ten percent. Twenty percent.
A shadow crossed the frosted glass of the office door.
I reached into my pocket and gripped the small brass letter opener I had taken from the desk earlier.
The door handle began to turn.
The progress bar reached forty percent.
“Hurry,” I whispered.
The door opened, and a man in a tactical vest stepped in, a rifle raised to his shoulder.
He didn’t look at us; he looked at the monitors.
It was one of Damiano’s guards, his face covered in soot.
“We have to move,” the guard said. “They’ve breached the foyer.”
“Not yet,” I said.
“Miss Bennett, we have orders,” the guard said, stepping toward me.