Page 82 of The Thief
"Which is?"
"The girl. Everything's about the girl."
My hands clench into fists. "Where is he taking her?"
"I don't know. That wasn't my part of the operation."
Danny stands, pulling a knife from his belt. The blade glints in the harsh light. "Your part's about to get very unpleasant."
"Wait," Marcus says quickly. "There's something else. Something you need to know."
"What?"
"I'm not the only one. There are others. Men who've lost faith in Henry's leadership."
"How many others?"
"I don't know. We were kept separate, compartmentalized. But enough. Enough to matter."
The knife slides between Marcus' fingers, just deep enough to draw blood. He screams.
"Names," Danny says.
"I can't. I don't know their identities."
"Guess."
Another cut, deeper this time. Marcus is sobbing now, forty years of tough guy facade cracking under the pressure.
"Please. I'll tell you everything I know, but I can't give you what I don't have."
"What do you have?" I ask.
"Communication protocols. Dead drops. Phone numbers."
"That's a start."
Danny works methodically, professionally. Each cut is calculated to maximize pain without causing permanent damage. Yet. Marcus talks between screams, giving us what little he knows.
Trace has been planning this for over a year. The attacks on our people, the systematic dismantling of our operations, all of it designed to weaken Henry's position within the family. To convince key people that new leadership was needed.
"How many have turned?" I ask.
"I don't know," Marcus gasps. "Could be five, could be fifty. Trace kept us all in the dark."
"Security protocols?"
"Changed monthly. I only knew what I needed to know for each operation."
"Safe houses?"
"Three that I knew about. All compromised now."
Danny makes another cut, this one along Marcus' forearm. The old man's scream echoes off the concrete walls.
"Phone records?"
"Burner phones. Destroyed after each use."
