Chapter 9
The smell of wet ash clung to Elias’s lungs, a bitter, charcoal-heavy reminder of the clinic’s final act. Before him, the remains of his father’s ledger—the names, the remittance codes, the lifeblood of a hundred families—lay in a jagged, gray heap against the cracked foundation. The fire had been swift, hungry, and entirely necessary. By turning the anchor into soot, Elias had effectively erased the legal tether the Enforcer had been using to hunt them.
He didn't have to wait long for the response. Heavy boots crunched over the debris of the clinic’s reception area, the sound rhythmic and deliberate. Elias didn't look up. He watched the last of the embers pulse in the drafty, hollowed-out space that used to hold the neighborhood together.
“You’re late,” Elias said, his voice scraped raw.
“I’m exactly on time for the audit, Mr. Thorne,” the Enforcer replied. He stood at the edge of the rubble, his silhouette sharp against the gray afternoon light. He held a tablet, the screen casting a cold, blue glow onto his face. “Though I suspect the inventory has suffered a significant, unauthorized reduction.”
Elias kicked a loose brick, sending a cloud of soot into the air. “The inventory is gone. There’s no Seed Name left to claim, no ledger to subpoena. Whatever you were building, it collapsed with the roof.”
The Enforcer didn't move. He took a slow, measured step into the ruins, his gaze flicking to the charred remains. “You think destruction is a strategy. It is merely a confession. By burning the record, you’ve effectively declared yourself the only remaining witness. And witnesses are so much easier to liquidate than paper.”
Elias left the ruins behind, his mind fixed on the one man who had provided the Enforcer the keys to this slaughter. He tracked Halloway to the Harbor transit terminal, a sterile, liminal space where the air tasted of ozone and synthetic coffee. Halloway was huddled near the northern boarding gate, his shoulder-slumped gait betraying the frantic focus of a m
Preview ends here. Subscribe to continue.