He says to the guards, “Step back.”
They do, but not far.
I swallow and hold the folder out. “There’s a hit in motion. It’s not rumor. I have route details, timing windows, and a payment chain. They’re building it through subcontractors and a cleanup crew out of the northside marine yards. If you leave by your usual river road line after six, they’ll box your convoy at the bridge works.”
He watches me with a face I cannot read now, and that is new. Before, even when he lied, I could read the shape under it.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” he says.
“I know.”
“You were told not to come back.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you in my lobby?”
I almost laugh at that, harsh and tired, but I keep my voice steady. “I just told you. You’re in danger.”
His mouth shifts once, no softness in it. “I’m always in danger.”
“This is different.”
“You expect me to trust your judgment on that.”
“I expect you to verify the file and move your route.”
He steps closer, close enough that I catch rain and cold air on his coat. His voice drops, and the people around us politely become furniture.
“You disappear for weeks, you walk in here with a folder and a panicked face, and you want what, gratitude?”
“No.” My grip slips on the file and I fix it. “I want you alive.”
Something flashes across his face, fast and gone, and he looks down at the folder without taking it.
“Conall,” he says, still looking at me.
Conall appears from the corridor behind him, takes in the scene, and goes still when he recognizes me. “Boss.”
“Take the file.”
I exhale and hand it over. Conall opens it where he stands, scans the first page, flips to the second. His eyes sharpen.
“Where did you get this?” he asks me.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters if it’s bait.”
“It’s real.”
Cillian glances at Conall. “Is it?”
Conall keeps reading, then lifts his head. “Some of these names check with old marine subcontractors. I need five minutes.”
“You’ve got two,” Cillian says.
I step in before they turn away. “You don’t have two if the outer watcher is already in place. They stage early. One vehicle stalls traffic. One bike closes from behind. Shooter team takes elevation off the service flats.”
