Page 149 of Fractured Allegiance

I hit Vasco’s place just before dusk locks in. The salvage yard is wrapped in barbed chain, fake “Under Renovation” signs strung along the fence like they mean anything.

I don’t knock.

I cut through the fence with bolt shears from the alley drop I cached three weeks ago. Enter quietly. Keep low.

The back building is barely lit; a strip of halogen leaks out from under the office door. The rest is steeped in darkness.

I make it to the second level, boots quiet across the warped steel floor.

Someone moves inside.

I slam the door open with the heel of my boot and draw.

The man inside jerks back, knife in hand, but not fast enough.

I shoot him in the leg before he finishes the swing.

He crumples. Yells once.

“You’re not Marrow,” I say, stepping over his blood trail.

“Fuck you—”

I plant my knee on his chest and shove the knife across the floor.

“You know where he is,” I say.

He spits.

I break his thumb.

He howls.

I wait.

He mutters something wet and ugly. A location. Cross streets. A burned-out flat he’s using near the old tram yard, underground.

He says one more thing, through teeth gritted with blood. “She’s not safe with you either. Now I see why Marrow always say that.”

I look him dead in the eyes. “No one is ever really safe.”

Then I knock him out.

Leave the blood to stain the floor behind me.

—

The tram yard's a ruin.

All weeds and busted tracks and graffiti that looks more like territory than art.

I move through the space carefully, checking sight lines, listening for movement. If Marrow's using this place, he wouldn't leave it unprotected.

I find the door tucked behind a false panel near the old maintenance shed. It's subtle—most people would walk right past it. But I know how Marrow operates. We worked a joint operation together once. Spent three weeks embedded in thesame criminal network. I watched him set up safe houses, rig alarms, plan escape routes. He was meticulous. Paranoid. Always three steps ahead.

I crouch down and examine the doorframe.

There. A thin wire running along the edge, nearly invisible in the dim light. Magnetic contact alarm. Simple but effective—door opens, magnet separates from the sensor, circuit breaks, alarm triggers.