chapter seven
804 Words
Marco Dela Cruz didn’t sleep much. He didn’t need to. Control didn’t come from rest. It came from being the first to know when someone else slipped.
He watched the footage from Pier 12 twice. Once without sound. Once with.
Adrian delgado moved like a man who’d done this before. Efficient. No wasted motion. The two men he left on the ground were his own—rookies, but loyal. They’d failed the test. That was on Marco.
He closed the laptop.
“Bring me the transfer logs for Pier 9 and Pier 12,” he said to the room.
No one answered. No one needed to. Three minutes later, a tablet was placed in front of him.
The logs were clean. Too clean.
Marco tapped the screen once. “She’s feeding us ghosts.”
Across the city, Tessa was already on her third sweep. Claire sat beside her, watching lines of code scroll faster than either of them could read. Tessa stood at the door, arms crossed, listening for footsteps that shouldn’t be there.
“False pings are holding,” Tessa said. “If they’re tracking your phone, Claire, they’re chasing the decoy.”
Claire nodded. “Good. Keep it up. I want to know the moment they catch on.”
Tessa frowned. “And if they do?”
“Then we move faster than they can react,” Claire said.
Her phone buzzed. Adrian.
“Marco’s men didn’t come for a fight,” he said without greeting. “They came to confirm I was on the docks.”
Claire exhaled. “So he’s testing you.”
“He’s setting up the next move,” Adrian said. “He moved the shipment to move us. Now he’s waiting to see if we break.”
Tessa stepped closer. “Are we breaking?”
“No,” Claire said. “We’re letting him think we are.”
Adrian was quiet for a moment. “Be careful. If Marco thinks he’s got an opening, he’ll take it. He doesn’t bluff.”
“I know,” Claire said. tessa’s watching the money. If there’s a ledger, it’ll show up when funds shift. That’s our window.”
“Then don’t miss it,” Adrian said, and ended the call.
He didn’t like giving orders over a line. Too easy to intercept. But right now, distance was safer than proximity.
Back at the Dela Cruz compound, Marco leaned back in his chair. The tablet glowed against his face.
“They’re using decoys,” he said to the man standing by the door. “Means they’re scared.”
The man didn’t speak. He knew better.
Marco smiled faintly. “Good. Scared people make mistakes.”
He stood and walked to the window. The city lay below, dark and quiet. For now.
“Send a crew to Pier 9,” he said. “Not to take anything. Just to be seen. I want Belgado thinking we’re sloppy. I want him chasing shadows.”
“And if he doesn’t take the bait?”
“Then we hit him somewhere he can’t ignore,” Marco said. “Something personal.”
The man nodded and left.
Marco stayed at the window a moment longer. He wasn’t worried about Adrian. Adrian was predictable. Predictable men fought in the open.
It was Claire he couldn’t read. She moved like she wasn’t afraid to lose, and that made her dangerous.
He’d have to fix that.
At 03:40, Tessa’s screen flashed red again.
“Got something,” she said. “Small transfer. Off-books account. Just moved twenty thousand to a shell company in Cebu.”
Claire leaned in. “Cebu?”
“Registered three weeks ago,” Maya said. “No activity until now.”
Tessa looked between them. “That’s it?”
“That’s the first thread,” Claire said. “Pull it.”
Tessa’s fingers flew. The ledger wasn’t opening all at once. It was leaking. One transaction at a time.
Outside, a car slowed on the street below. Engine idling. Headlights off.
Tessa saw it first. “We’ve got company.”
Claire didn’t move from the screen. “How many?”
“Two. Maybe three. They’re not hiding.”
Maya didn’t look up. “I’m almost in.”
Claire stood and walked to the window. The car was parked half a block down. Dela Cruz signature—unmarked, too clean, too patient.
“They’re not here to take us,” she said. “They’re here to watch.”
Tessa’s hand went to the knife at her belt. “Should I go say hello?”
“No,” Claire said. “Let them watch. Let them report back that we’re still here. Still working.”
Tessa’s screen flickered. Another line of data. A name. A date. A location.
“Got it,” Maya whispered.
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
- Writer
