Chapter 88 Rourke Hale
Rourke Hale
The alert comes before the news.
Accounts freeze.
Transfers fail.
Three shell layers go dark at once.
That only happens when someone has a map.
I don’t throw the glass.
I don’t swear.
I just sit very still and watch the screen tell me a story I already understand.
Eleanor Rossi is down.
That was always a risk.
She liked control. I preferred distance.
“Status,” I say.
My assistant doesn’t look up. “Eleanor Rossi has been detained. Financial seizure is in progress. Several properties flagged.”
“Of course they are.”
We’d built this machine to survive decapitation.
The problem is… she wasn’t the head.
She was the shield.
“Is the boy compromised?” I ask.
“No. Marco Rossi hasn’t moved.”
“Then he will.”
He always does.
I stand and walk to the window.
The city looks the same.
It always does, right before it doesn’t.
“Contingency Black,” I say.
My assistant stiffens. “That triggers exposure.”
“Not if we aim it.”
“And the child?”
I don’t answer immediately.
That is enough of an answer.
“Saint Lawson and Marco Rossi will not stop,” I say. “So we give him something he cannot ignore.”
“That will bring every Ranger down on us.”
“Yes,” I agree. “Eventually.”
“Then what?”
“Then we vanish.”
I turn back to the desk.
“Find the woman,” I say. “Not the tavern. Not the Rangers.”
“I want Lane Rossi’s baby.”
“The baby,” my assistant asks quietly.
“Yes,” I say. “The baby.”
I look at the map.
And start choosing the knife.