Chapter 7 - The Dragon at the Rail Yard"Well, well, well," the man with the green dragon tattoo called out, his voice cutting easily across the rhythmic rumble of the approaching freight train.
He flicked his cigarette into the dirt, straightened his trench coat, and stepped forward. Two other men emerged from the shadows of the shipping containers behind him, both wearing dark tactical gear and holding silenced carbines.
"Mr. Ravellini," the tattooed man smiled, though his eyes were as dead and cold as winter stone. "We were wondering when you'd crawl out of your cage."
Luca didn't blink. He stepped past me and Dante, placing himself directly between us and the armed men, his hand resting casually near his holster.
"Kenji," Luca said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, icy register. "I thought your bosses kept you confined to the harbor district. City politics must be paying well these days."
So this was Kenji—the feared enforcer of the Triad's local syndicate, a man whose name was whispered in dark corners whenever a politician or a rival dealer needed to quietly disappear.
"We go where the business is, Luca," Kenji replied, his smile fading into a hard, flat line. "And right now, the business involves a little girl, a piece of notebook paper, and a dead District Attorney who didn't know when to stay in his lane."
Kenji’s eyes shifted past Luca, locking directly onto Sofia over my shoulder.
A chill went straight down my spine. I instinctively took a step back, shielding Sofia’s face with my arm.
"Hand over the girl and the paper," Kenji said smoothly, taking another step forward. "And Mr. Ravellini... you and your little crew can walk away from this rail yard. We have no quarrel with you. This is an internal city matter."
Luca let out a short, cold laugh that had no humor in it whatsoever.
"Internal matter," Luca repeated, shaking his head slowly. "Kenji, you must be losing your touch if you think I hand my guests over to a pack of stray dogs on my own turf."
"Your turf?" Kenji’s eyes narrowed into slits. "This city belongs to the council, Luca. And the council wants that archive key back before the federal marshals get their hands on it. If you protect her, you go down with her. All of you."
The freight train roared closer, its massive steel wheels screaming against the tracks as it began to slow down for the switching yard, creating a wall of deafening noise and shaking the gravel beneath our feet.
It was the distraction we needed—or our executioner's final curtain call.
"Dante," Luca whispered, his voice barely audible beneath the roar of the train engine.
"Ready, Boss," Dante muttered back, his hand tightening around his weapon.
"On my mark."
Kenji took another step forward, sensing the shift in posture, his hand dropping toward his waist holster. "Don't be stupid, Luca. You can't fight a war against the entire—"
"Now!" Luca shouted.
Before Kenji could finish his sentence, Dante threw a tactical flash-bang grenade straight toward the center of the three SUVs.
CRACK-FLASH!
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A blinding white explosion tore through the rail yard, accompanied by a deafening shockwave that rattled the air and left the Triad enforcers blinded, screaming, and clutching their eyes in agony.
"Run!" Luca roared, grabbing my arm and pulling me forward toward the open boxcar of a slowing freight train just ten yards away.
