Chapter 10

The air in the shipping-port office tasted of ozone and stale paper. Elias didn’t look up from the terminal; the progress bar for the final, encrypted upload—the digital skeleton key to the 1994 liquidation records—crawled with agonizing precision. Outside, the rhythmic, heavy thud of combat boots against the loading dock announced the Board’s cleanup crew. They weren't here to negotiate; they were here to scrub the Lane name from the city’s ledger, starting with the man holding the pen.

Elias pulled a thin, stainless-steel wire from his cuff—a tailor’s tool, repurposed for a more surgical extraction. He didn’t reach for a weapon. Instead, he moved to the fuse box, his fingers finding the corroded junction he had mapped hours ago. With a sharp, practiced tug, he bypassed the primary circuit, shunting the current into the building’s neglected, high-pressure sprinkler system. As the door groaned under the force of a hydraulic ram, Elias stepped back, his hand hovering over the 'Execute' key. The door burst inward. The cleanup leader, a man whose face was a patchwork of surgical scars, leveled a suppressed pistol at Elias’s chest.

“The ledger, Elias,” the leader spat. “The Board doesn't want a trial. They want a burial.”

Elias didn't flinch. “You’re late, Miller. And you’re working for a ghost.” He pressed the key. A high-pitched whine erupted from the ceiling as the sprinkler heads—rigged to the electrical surge—sprayed a fine, conductive m

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