Chapter 5 - THE TROJAN HORSEBy sunrise, the atmosphere inside the Starks mansion had shifted from defensive terror to calculated war.
In the nursery, Lily and Rose were sleeping peacefully for the first time in two months. With the infrasound device removed and destroyed, their small faces were relaxed, their breathing deep and rhythmic. Rory had spent twenty minutes sitting on the floor by their beds, simply watching them breathe, before returning to the war room below.
"Dante thinks the bear is still working," Veronica explained to Rory, Dominic, and the five top captains of the Starks syndicate gathered around the glass table in the command center. "He thinks your daughters are still screaming every night, and he thinks you're on the verge of a nervous breakdown."
"So we give him what he expects," Rory said, his eyes burning with lethal intelligence. "We don't remove the rest of the taps. We feed him what he wants to hear."
Veronica placed a modified audio chip onto the table. "I can loop fake audio through his taps. We can broadcast fake panic, fake arguments, and fake radio chatter. We make him believe you've completely lost control of your crew."
"And while he thinks I'm broken," Rory added, leaning over the table, "we leak a fake shipment schedule. The biggest cargo run of the decade. Three hundred million dollars in unregistered bonds coming into Pier 42 tomorrow night at midnight."
Dominic grinned, revealing a gold tooth. "He won't be able to resist. Dante will bring his entire inner circle to hijack the haul himself to finish us off."
"Precisely," Rory said. "He’ll bring all his men out into the open, thinking he's ambushing a helpless, exhausted rival. But when he opens those shipping containers on Pier 42, he won't find bonds."
"He'll find us," Dominic growled.
Rory turned to Veronica. "Elena... or Veronica, whatever name you prefer. You’ve proven your worth ten times over. But tomorrow night requires precise execution. If the signal flickers for even a second, Dante will smell the trap and retreat back into his fortress. Can you handle the feed?"
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Veronica looked at Rory, then at the photo of her late brother tucked inside her pocket.
"I'll make sure Dante hears exactly what he wants to hear," she replied softly. "Right until the moment you put a bullet through his head."
