Chapter 12 - Echoes of the Red Light District
At 10:00 AM, the roar of my custom matte-black motorcycle echoed against the filthy concrete buildings of the downtown red-light district. Returning here felt like swallowing glass. The familiar stench of cheap whiskey, exhaust, and decay settled over me as I parked in an alley behind the Crown Casino.
I pulled down my brimmed hat and adjusted my trench coat. My objective was simple: gather intelligence on who within the Syndicate had issued the hit before walking into their noon trap.
I slipped through the back entrance of "The Rust Bucket," a subterranean dive bar where information brokers traded secrets. The bartender, an old, scarred man named Knox, nearly dropped a glass when I stepped up to the counter.
"Elena?" he whispered, eyes darting in panic. "You're a ghost. You shouldn't be here. Victor put a bounty on your head the moment you disappeared."
"Victor?" My blood ran cold. Victor was the lieutenant who had worked directly alongside my ex-husband, Richard, and his wealthy new fiancée, Chloe—the woman who had humiliated me on the dusty road a year ago.
"Victor took over the entire district three months ago," Knox hissed, leaning across the sticky counter. "He’s been laundering money through Chloe’s father’s firm. But Marcus and Sarah stumbled onto the paper trail. That's why he's hunting them. They have the hard drive that can put Victor and Chloe’s family away forever."
Before I could ask more, the heavy oak doors of the pub were kicked open. Four men in tailored dark suits walked in, guns drawn.
"Well, well," the lead enforcer sneered, leveling a pistol at my chest. "Victor said you couldn't resist saving your little friends. Drop the belt, Elena."
I didn't blink. "You came underprepared."
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In one fluid motion, I grabbed Knox’s heavy iron tap handle, whipped it across the lead enforcer's jaw, kicked the table into the second man, and drew my sidearm. Three suppressed shots rang out, striking their shoulders and knees. Within eight seconds, all four men were groaning on the floor.
I dragged the leader up by his collar. "Tell Victor I’m coming. And tell him to keep my friends alive if he wants his ledger back."
