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Shell LLC.

Duplicate payouts.

VOIP complaints.

Burner bounties.

The Bensonhurst IP. Kingsley.

I draw a thin line under it.

I pull the drawer and take out the burner phone.

It is small, cracked, stubborn.

It links to the only men we call when the law is a rumor and our rules are older than charters.

They do not wear patches.

They do not ask for stories.

They take names and return silence.

I type three words.

We have a name.

I press send.

The phone chirps once, soft and final.

The screen holds the message.

No reply comes.

That is fine.

It never does on nights like this.

I close the ledger.

The sound is louder than it should be.

The bulb flickers once then holds.

I sit for a long breath.

I look at the flag on the wall, the black jackal stitched into burlap.

We put the banner away when we chose independence over obedience.

The animal does not sleep; it waits. I let it look back at me until the quiet feels earned.

We are done reacting.

We move now.

We shield her money.