Page 20 of Danger Close
It turned ugly fast.
They disappeared into the alley between buildings.Light flared once—a reflection off metal.Knife.Ezra staggered.A gun fired—a flash of light and then shadows swallowed everything.
No one in the room spoke.
Marsh clicked forward.“Another camera.Second floor, side hallway.Storage closet, just outside 203.”
There he was—Ezra stumbling into frame, blood already soaking through his shirt.His hands fumbled at the storage closet door.He yanked it open, barely managing to slip inside.The door clicked shut behind him.
Then ...nothing.
The time stamp ran.
Seconds.Minutes.Eleven of them.Then movement.
Two new men entered the frame.Taller.Broader.Gloved hands.No panic.Just precision.
They went straight to the closet like they had a map.One twisted the knob.The door opened.
Ricky felt his breath catch.
Ezra was unconscious, slumped at an angle like he’d tried to brace himself and failed.One of the men crouched, checked his pulse, then nodded.
They lifted him between them like a sack of grain.Head lolled, one shoe missing, blood trailing behind them.
Down the stairs.Out the back.
Then they vanished into a dark sedan with no plates that merged into early morning traffic like it had done it a hundred times before.The screen went black.
“Time stamp?”Bateman asked, voice like gravel.
Marsh checked.“04:05.”
He pulled up the message metadata.
“Sent to Ricky at 03:58.”
Ricky’s jaw locked so tight it ached.He stared at the dark screen, at the empty stairwell frozen in time.
“He was bleeding out,” he muttered.“But he still made sure I got the file.”
There was something tight in his throat, something raw and splintered, but he shoved it down.
Bateman’s voice was quiet.“That’s Ezra.”
The comms tablet on Hogan’s belt chirped.He pulled it free, scanned the message.
“Kai just dropped a location.Former textile warehouse.Nineteen clicks east.Says it’s been flagged in trafficking ops for years.Arms, bodies.Locals call it the ghost house.Cops won’t go near it.”
Bateman looked at the team.“That’s our next stop.”
Ricky didn’t wait.
He was already moving, already pulling on his tac vest and checking his sidearm.Ezra had opened a door.Bought them time with his blood.
Now, it was their turn to kick it down.
****
