Page 149 of Fractured Allegiance
I hit Vasco’s place just before dusk locks in. The salvage yard is wrapped in barbed chain, fake “Under Renovation” signs strung along the fence like they mean anything.
I don’t knock.
I cut through the fence with bolt shears from the alley drop I cached three weeks ago. Enter quietly. Keep low.
The back building is barely lit; a strip of halogen leaks out from under the office door. The rest is steeped in darkness.
I make it to the second level, boots quiet across the warped steel floor.
Someone moves inside.
I slam the door open with the heel of my boot and draw.
The man inside jerks back, knife in hand, but not fast enough.
I shoot him in the leg before he finishes the swing.
He crumples. Yells once.
“You’re not Marrow,” I say, stepping over his blood trail.
“Fuck you—”
I plant my knee on his chest and shove the knife across the floor.
“You know where he is,” I say.
He spits.
I break his thumb.
He howls.
I wait.
He mutters something wet and ugly. A location. Cross streets. A burned-out flat he’s using near the old tram yard, underground.
He says one more thing, through teeth gritted with blood. “She’s not safe with you either. Now I see why Marrow always say that.”
I look him dead in the eyes. “No one is ever really safe.”
Then I knock him out.
Leave the blood to stain the floor behind me.
—
The tram yard's a ruin.
All weeds and busted tracks and graffiti that looks more like territory than art.
I move through the space carefully, checking sight lines, listening for movement. If Marrow's using this place, he wouldn't leave it unprotected.
I find the door tucked behind a false panel near the old maintenance shed. It's subtle—most people would walk right past it. But I know how Marrow operates. We worked a joint operation together once. Spent three weeks embedded in thesame criminal network. I watched him set up safe houses, rig alarms, plan escape routes. He was meticulous. Paranoid. Always three steps ahead.
I crouch down and examine the doorframe.
There. A thin wire running along the edge, nearly invisible in the dim light. Magnetic contact alarm. Simple but effective—door opens, magnet separates from the sensor, circuit breaks, alarm triggers.
