Chapter 6
Mara led him through the dish station and into an old maintenance corridor beneath the casino.
Emergency lights painted the walls red. Thunder shook the building above them. Behind them, the attackers regrouped.
“Left,” Dante said. “Private tunnel to the river.”
“No,” Mara said.
He grabbed her arm.
“That tunnel gets us out.”
“That tunnel gets you killed.”
His eyes sharpened.
Mara pulled a small black drive from inside her chef coat and pressed it into his hand.
“Nico sold your river routes, your warehouse access, and your security codes. Tonight was the cleanup.”
Dante stared at the drive.
For one second, he looked less like a boss and more like a man hearing his family name crack down the middle.
“Nico?” he said.
Mara did not soften it.
“Yes.”
“How long have you known?”
“Long enough.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I wasn’t here to protect your feelings.”
The answer hit him harder than she expected.
Footsteps thundered behind them.
Mara shoved him into a dry storage room and pulled a rack of flour sacks across the doorway. Through the gap, they watched three attackers rush past toward the river tunnel.
Exactly where Nico had sent them.
Dante looked at Mara in the dark.
“You’re federal.”
Mara said nothing.
His jaw tightened.
“You came here for me.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m finishing the right case.”
Outside, boots stopped.
A voice shouted.
Then the corridor lights snapped fully on.
Federal agents flooded both ends of the hall.
May you like
Controlled commands. Hands raised. Men forced to their knees. No chaos. No wasted movement.
The trap closed on the men who thought they had set it.
