Page 104 of Loco

Ned nodded. “And we’re going to make it uncomfortable as hell for him. Not just for him but for his security team, too. Their accounts were frozen right along with his. So, unless they’ve got stacks of cash hidden in their mattresses, they have no money, access, or cover.”

“And if they try to get money from any of their criminal contacts…” Keir said slowly.

Ned’s smile was cold. “Exactly, we’ll be there waiting. They touch one dirty dollar, and it’s another charge. Caught red-handed with the proceeds of crime.”

There was a beat of silence as that sank in.

“So, what now?” I asked.

“Now we wait for the right moment,” Ned shrugged. “Griggs is cornered, whether he knows it yet or not. He’ll reach out to someone and try to cash in a favor or dig for leverage. We’re just letting him hang himself.”

I glanced toward the hallway, where Sayla and the kids had gone with Lindee.

“Just make sure none of that blowback hits her or the kids.”

“It won’t,” Ned promised. “I’m going to bury this bastard, Roque. And anyone standing next to him when the shit hits the fan.”

Ned had just closed the folder when his phone buzzed on the table.

He picked it up, checked the screen, and breathed sharply through his nose. “And there it is.”

“What?” I asked, already sitting forward.

“Griggs just made a move.” He tapped the screen and turned it so I could see. A surveillance shot—timestamped five minutes ago—showed Griggs getting into a car outside a strip mall two towns over. He wasn’t alone. Another man was with him,partially obscured behind the windshield, but the posture was on guard.

“We’ve been running surveillance feeds through facial recognition software,” Ned explained. “He’s ditched his usual car, but we’ve now tagged the plates on this one. It belongs to one of his personal security team—who should be broke right now unless they just got paid in cash.”

“Which would be dumb,” Judd muttered, leaning over my shoulder. “Because now they’ve officially tied themselves to criminal funding.”

Ned nodded. “Exactly. That’s the leverage we needed. He’s panicking, which means he’s vulnerable.”

“Where’s he heading?” I asked.

Ned’s security guy was already on one of the laptops nearby, typing fast. “Looks like he met with someone in that parking lot—short exchange, no physical hand-off. We’ve got a tail on him now, keeping a distance.”

I frowned. “He’s meeting people in broad daylight?”

Ned’s voice dropped a notch. “Desperate men make messy decisions.”

Hurst stepped closer to the table, arms crossed, his presence as steady as ever. “He knows he’s being watched now, there’s no way he doesn’t. This means he’s either bluffing for power or running out of time.”

“Or both,” I added.

The room fell quiet as the screen updated again—a new photo, this time of Griggs stepping into a second vehicle in the back lotof a run-down hotel on the edge of town. The security guy tapped his keyboard, and it turned out that this one wasn’t registered with any of his known associates.

Ned stared at the screen, his fingers tapping once against the edge of the phone. “If he’s making contact with someone off-grid, it’s either to disappear or strike first. And if he’s foolish enough to go after Sayla and the kids again?—”

“He won’t get that far,” I cut in.

He wouldn’t. I’d burn the whole damn county down before I let him get close to her or the kids.

Ned looked at me, and all the sharp politician polish dropped for a moment. “We’re going to finish this, Roque. But I need to know something—if he runs, are you ready to cross the line if it comes down to it?”

I met his gaze without hesitation. “I already was the second he took her.”

Ned nodded once. “Then let’s box him in.”

By midday,the trap was set.

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