Page 124 of Silent Schemes

Korrin leans forward, the old scar on his throat white against his skin. “You check the reports. Every sighting, every rumor. Don’t lie.”

I roll the glass between my palms. “I check that she stays away. Nothing more.”

Korrin laughs, sharp as a slap. “Sure, King. Whatever gets you to sleep.”

I let it go.

There’s no point in arguing.

The map is bleak.

Only a handful of pieces left, but enough for the right player to win.

Cyrus leans in, finger on his chess tattoo. “Cross is getting sloppy. You can see the lines—they’re running shipments through the East End, but the muscle’s new. Outsiders. Hired help.”

“That means we hit hard, quick, before they dig in,” I say.

Korrin grins, teeth bared. “Give me two guys and an hour, I’ll take the docks.”

I shake my head. “Too soon. We need to know who’s really running it. Cross is just a puppet. We kill him, they’ll just swap in a new one.”

Cyrus nods, pulling a file from the pile. “We flip the right guy. Make them eat their own.”

Korrin’s knife makes lazy figure-eights in the air. “That’s your play? Diplomacy?”

I meet his gaze, voice soft but sharp enough to hurt. “It’s not diplomacy. It’s leverage. You cut the right muscle, the body drops.”

He considers this, then shrugs. “Fine. But when the time comes, I want the first shot.”

I slide the bottle to him. “You’ll get it.”

There’s a long silence.

Cyrus clears his throat,“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”

Korrin rolls his eyes. “Sun Tzu, again. You read anything written in the last five hundred years?”

Cyrus grins. “If it works, it works.”

The three of us sit, drinking the memory of our mentor, staring at the bleeding city, and pretending the ghosts don’t whisper from the corners.

I raise my glass, let the burn scald my throat. “To Will.”

Korrin’s voice is gravel. “To the last good man in this shithole.”

Cyrus, barely audible: “To the next move.”

We drink.

No one says it, but the truth is plain: nothing’s finished.

There’s always another game, another fight.

Another ghost waiting to call your bluff.

After the meeting, I hole up in the study above the barrel room.

The silence up here is thick enough to chew.