Chapter 6 - The Trap Springs Shut"They knew we were coming," I muttered, shining the light closer to the painted crest.
The red paint was still tacky. It hadn't dried.
Click.
The sound echoed sharply behind us in the stone tunnel—the unmistakable metallic click of a shotgun safety being disengaged.
"Drop the ledger, kid," a voice echoed from the darkness ahead of us.
Stepping out from the shadows of a side tunnel was a figure I hadn't seen in ten years. My cousin Marco—Gino’s eldest son, built like a brick wall and twice as cruel. He held a riot gun leveled squarely at my chest.
"Hello, cousin," Marco sneered, his face split by an ugly grin. "Uncle Gino sends his regards. He said if you wanted to play beggar so badly, he’d make sure you died in a hole like one."
Mia stepped instinctively in front of me, her arms spread wide. "Don't touch him! Take whatever you want, just leave us alone!"
Marco laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "Look at you playing hero. Cute. But your father’s little secret died the moment Ray Kesler stopped breathing. And you two are just loose ends on a ledger that needs clearing."
Marco’s finger tightened on the trigger.
My mind raced. No weapons. No cover. Just raw distance and physics.
I looked at the rusted overhead water pipes running along the stone ceiling—pipes dripping with condensation from the mountain aquifer above. I remembered the blueprints of these old mining shafts from Ray’s historical notes in the back of the ledger. They ran directly beneath the town’s old industrial water reservoir.
"Marco," I said, my voice cutting through the damp air with absolute authority. "Before you pull that trigger, ask yourself why Gino sent you instead of coming himself."
Marco hesitated, his finger pausing on the trigger. "What are you talking about?"
"He didn't send you to secure the family honor," I said, taking half a step forward while keeping Mia shielded behind my shoulder. "He sent you down here because if you kill me, you take the blame when the feds trace the hit. Gino is cutting his own blood loose, just like he did with my father."
"Shut up!" Marco yelled, his face flushing crimson with sudden rage. "You're lying!"
"Am I?" I pointed up at the corroded water pipes above his head. "Look at the bolts on that main valve. They're fresh. Gino’s men rigged this tunnel to flood the moment you secured the target. He’s burying us all."
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Marco glanced up instinctively for a fraction of a second.
That fraction of a second was all I needed.
