Chapter 15 - The Switching Yard
The abandoned railway switching yard in North District 9 was a labyrinth of rusted boxcars, towering crane towers, and overgrown weeds howling under a desolate midnight sky. Thick fog rolled in off the harbor, swallowing the pale moonlight and turning the rusted metal skeletons into looming phantoms.
Declan’s armored sedan came to a screeching halt near the central turntable. He stepped out into the freezing wind, his hands held openly at his sides, his combat vest concealed beneath a heavy black wool coat.
"I'm here!" Declan shouted into the empty expanse, his voice echoing off the corrugated metal walls of the warehouses. "Show yourselves!"
A slow, mocking round of applause echoed from the top of an old rusted gantry crane thirty feet above him.
Stepping out from the shadows of the crane platform was a tall man wearing a tailored charcoal suit—and a terrifying, polished silver wolf mask. Beside him, held tightly by a masked operative, was Penny. The little girl’s eyes were wide with fear, but when she saw Declan down below, she let out a desperate cry.
"Papa!" she screamed.
Declan’s chest tightened like a vice. He locked eyes with the man in the wolf mask. "Let the child go. You wanted me. I'm here."
The masked man laughed—a smooth, cultured, painfully familiar sound that made Declan’s blood run cold. He slowly reached up and removed the silver mask, letting it drop to the metal grating below.
It wasn't Graham. It wasn't a rival syndicate boss.
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Standing before them, smiling with cold, predatory amusement, was Marcus Vance—the man Declan had personally appointed as the chief legal counsel of the Shaw empire five years ago.
"Surprised, Declan?" Marcus smirked, leaning casually against the railing. "You thought Graham was the mastermind? Graham was a blunt instrument. A Rottweiler who barked too loud. I was the architect."
