The air here was thick with steam and the scent of laundry detergent.

Liam led me into a small, windowless office used by the shift supervisors.

He locked the door behind us and turned on a single desk lamp.

“We need to see what is on that drive,” I said, leaning against a metal desk.

“If Ethan sent men here, it’s not just about the assault. It’s about what is in those accounts.”

Liam placed the laptop on the desk and opened it again.

The screen flickered back to life, still showing the encrypted ledger files.

I sat in the swivel chair, my fingers hovering over the keyboard.

“Look at the ledger entries under the name ‘Apex-T-Twelve’,” I said, pointing to the columns.

“The money is moving from the municipal construction funds.”

“Those are the state grants for the new highway expansion,” Liam said, leaning over my shoulder.

“Yes,” I said. “But look at the receiving accounts.”

I scrolled down the list of wire transfers, tracing the routing numbers.

Each transaction was for exactly four hundred and ninety thousand dollars.

Just under the federal reporting threshold for secondary audits.