Page 94 of Fractured Allegiance
“Eyes on me, Vasko. This part’s important.”
He does.
And I lean in, voice low and clean.
“You think this is about one shipment? He knows about the second one. And the third. You’re not good at hiding things. Just good at dying slower than most.”
A pause.
Then Vasko mutters, “Never seen you before.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m new.”
“What makes you think I’m scared of Drazen’s toy soldiers?”
I straighten. Smile just enough to cut.
“I worked with Elias.”
That sends a hard message across.
Dom shifts behind me.
Vasko’s face darkens.
“I survived under Elias,” I add. “This? This is child’s play.”
He doesn't answer. Doesn’t need to.
Because he hears it now.
This isn’t my first conversation in a warehouse with too many eyes. And he’s not the first man who thought I’d choke and ended up stammering instead.
Vasko lifts his chin and delivers a single nod that may be a bluff after all. All the same, he walks off without another word. The guards watching him go like pillars in a mausoleum.
I turn to leave.
Dom falls into step beside me, whistling low under his breath.
Once we’re back in the car, he says, “Drazen thought you’d flinch.”
I shut the door. Don’t look at him. “Then Drazen forgot who trained me.”
Dom laughs, flicks the ignition. “Oh, we remember Elias,” he says. “Hard man to forget. Smooth. Precise. Always walked around like he knew God personally.”
“He did.”
Dom snorts. “And now he’s a ghost. Funny how that works.”
I feel my fingers curling into fists in my lap but refuse to answer otherwise.
He pulls out into the street again, casual like it’s a Sunday drive.
“You handled that well,” he says.
“I always do.”
“You’re getting good at being useful.”
