Chapter 13 - The Echo of the Chain
The private Boeing touched down on the tarmac of the private Vane airfield just as dawn painted the horizon in strokes of bruised purple and gold. The engines whined to a halt, and the cabin door hissed open. Leandro descended the metal stairs first, his long charcoal coat snapping in the sharp morning wind. Behind him, Daphne and Estelle followed, their expressions hardened by the exhausting ordeal of the past month.
Waiting at the foot of the stairs was a single black armored SUV, its engine idling with a low, predatory purr. Standing beside the driver's door was a senior intelligence operative, holding a heavy manila folder sealed with red wax.
“Report,” Leandro commanded before his boots even hit the pavement.
The operative snapped a crisp salute, handing over the folder. “We tracked the secondary offshore accounts, sir. Every cent Maribel funneled out of the syndicate has been frozen and seized. However... we found something unexpected on the final encrypted hard drive.”
Daphne stepped forward, her eyes narrowing. “What kind of unexpected?”
“It wasn't just Julian Cross and the Morettis,” the operative replied, his voice dropping. “Maribel was communicating with an entirely separate faction—a syndicate operating out of Europe known as the Iron Ring. And according to the communication logs, they didn't just fund her coup. They’re planning their own direct move against our shipping ports by the end of the week.”
Estelle’s face tightened into a mask of pure fury. She stepped past Leandro, snatching the folder from the operative's hands to scan the decrypted transcripts herself.
“They think because we were bleeding internally, we’re vulnerable globally,” Estelle said, her voice laced with venomous resolve. “They want to carve up our territory while the ashes are still warm.”
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Leandro took the folder back, flipping open the pages to reveal satellite photographs of shipping lanes and docking coordinates located right in the heart of the Mediterranean. A cold, calculating smile touched the corner of his mouth.
“Then we don’t wait for them to cross the ocean,” Leandro said, throwing the door of the SUV open. “We take the war straight to their backyard.”
