(LANCE )
Dusk bled across the coast in bruised purples and fiery oranges, the sky looking like an open wound. The air was thick with the sharp, briny tang of salt marsh and rotting seaweed as five unmarked SUVs converged silently on the abandoned cannery. No roaring engines. No battle cries. Just the low crunch of tires on gravel and the distant cry of seagulls that sounded too much like screams.
I rode in the lead vehicle, the familiar weight of my suppressed pistol heavy against my ribs. The RICO plea deal papers were folded inside my vest like a loaded gun I prayed I wouldn’t have to fire. Every loophole Marcus had outlined burned in my mind: defense of a material witness, off-books personal action, no traceable enterprise involvement. One mistake and Elena’s blood would have been spi
