Chapter 2 Elena’s Proof in Plain Sight #5
Elena’s eyes widened. “They accepted the handshake.”
“Good,” I said. My voice was colder than the air pouring from the gap. “Now they’ll think you’re already inside.”
Elena’s mouth tightened. “And I’ll be a lie.”
“Yes.”
I guided her back half a step, turning her body so her shoulder blocked the view of the gap from whoever stood outside. Her face stayed toward me, close enough that I could feel the heat of her breath on my knuckles.
“Matteo,” she whispered. “If they’re using the device to track me, then any sudden move - ”
“ - will look like an attempt to evade,” I finished, because I’d already thought it through. “And evasion triggers pursuit. Pursuit creates mistakes.”
Elena’s jaw flexed. “You’re counting on them making mistakes.”
“I’m counting on them being certain,” I said. “Certainty is the enemy of survival.”
The voice outside dropped lower, less formal. “Russo. We can open it fully. Or we can break it.”
A threat with an edge of impatience. They were being ordered to retrieve, not to negotiate.
Elena’s hand trembled once. She forced it still. “They’re not here for me.”
“No,” I agreed. “They’re here for the chain.”
The transfer device chirped again, then emitted a short, repeating burst. Like a code being sent.
My phone inside my jacket felt suddenly heavier, as if it had just woken up. The screen lit for a moment, casting a brief glow against my knuckles. A message flashed - brief, coded, and confirmation-heavy.
I didn’t read it fully. I didn’t have time.
Elena’s gaze snapped to my jacket pocket anyway. She knew that glow. She knew what coded directives looked like when they came from compromised internal channels.
“What did it say?” she demanded.
I didn’t answer. Answers were fuel. Answers could be used against us.
The panel gap widened another inch. The light poured out like a blade. The electronics inside the tunnel hummed, low and steady, as if the room beyond was awake.
Elena’s eyes flicked down to her waistband, then back to mine. “The drive is still on me.”
“Then keep it there,” I said.
Her expression hardened. “You’re going to let them open the tunnel and still not give them what they want.”
“I’m going to let them open the tunnel,” I corrected, “and then I’m going to move you out of their line.”
“Matteo - ”
A gunshot cracked somewhere in the garage level. Not aimed at us. A warning, or a test. The sound reverberated through concrete and made my teeth ring.
Elena flinched so hard her shoulder jerked. She didn’t make a sound, but her body betrayed her. Fear lived in her skin even when her mind refused to admit it.
I pulled her closer, pressing my forearm against her ribs as a barrier. “Stay with me.”
“I am with you,” she snapped, but her eyes looked glassy for a second. Then she blinked it away, determined to be sharp again.
The panel finally slid open with a smooth, quiet motion that didn’t match the rough concrete around it. A sealed corridor beyond waited - white-lit, clean, and too prepared to be accidental.
A faint scent of sterilized air hit me as the opening widened. It smelled like hospitals and money. Like places where people disappeared after paperwork was signed.
Boots entered the garage level near the tunnel frame. I heard the soft clink of gear. A man stepped into view just enough for me to see the edge of his face - masked, but his posture wasn’t cautious. He was confident.
He looked at Elena like she was a package he’d been promised.
“Elena Russo,” he said again, voice calm. “Walk.”
Elena didn’t move. Her chin lifted instead, defiant. “I don’t walk.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “Then you’ll be carried.”
His hand moved toward something at his belt. I felt the shift in the air, the moment a weapon came up.
My sidearm stayed concealed, but my grip tightened until my fingers ached. If he drew, he’d fire. If he fired, the tunnel’s sensors might trigger full lock-down.
I couldn’t afford a lock-down that trapped Elena with the wrong people.
I moved first - fast, controlled, deliberate. I slammed my shoulder into the man’s chest, using the concrete edge as leverage. He grunted, surprised by the sudden violence. His weapon hand jerked off line.
Elena moved with me, not away.
She reached for the transfer device and yanked it free from the panel edge, then shoved it into my palm.
“Now!” she hissed.
I caught it without looking, my fingers closing around the matte rectangle. It was warm from her skin and buzzing with a live signal.
I didn’t hesitate. I shoved the device into my jacket pocket, right against my phone, where I could feel both pieces of technology hum like competing hearts.
The man outside the tunnel recovered fast. He swung at me with a practiced motion, not wild. He wanted to hurt me, but he wanted control more.
I blocked the strike with my forearm and drove my elbow into his ribs. Something gave. He made a sound that wasn’t just pain - it was recalculation.
Two more figures moved behind him, rushing in with the kind of coordination you only got from men who’d trained together or been