Page 54 of Spade

Joker had been inspecting the hoses, lifting one of the collection racks, and frowning. “You see how much they’re getting per hour? There’s more throughput here than at the whole East Side donation bank.”

Selene said, “Doesn’t matter. Shut it down, destroy the inventory, nobody leaves until I say so.”

There was a moment then, one of those where the air gets thick with something nobody says out loud. The man with the headphones took them off, saw all five of us with weapons drawn, and nodded like he’d been expecting it. “Are you here to rob us?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nobody wants your money. Get your hands up and off the armrests.”

Another client, the suburban dad, tried to stand. The vacuum cup jerked with him, stuck hard, and he sat down so fast he whacked his head on the monitor arm. The screen swung back and whacked him again, and then the suction let go with a damp pop.

Joker winced. “Medical hazard pay is gonna skyrocket after this.”

Nines was still filming. “We’re documenting for internal use. This is a cease and desist, not a police action.”

The crossword man spoke again. “Can I at least get dressed?”

Aces’s voice was a flat line. “No sudden movements. You dress when the Captain says.”

Selene gave him a nod. “If you’d like to cover yourself, go ahead. But slow.”

He reached for the robe draped over the chair and pulled it on with the care of a man handling a live grenade. The others followed, each one trying and failing to pretend that this was in any way normal.

The blue light of the screens bled into the air, making the racks of collection tubes look radioactive. Each vial was labeled with a barcode and timestamp, stacked in rows like ammunition.

I made a slow circle of the room, checking lines of sight, counting doors. I could feel Joker’s eyes on me, waiting for the move. She liked action, but only when she knew it would land.

Selene called it. “Aces, secure the staff. Joker, cover the exit. Spade, you and Nines clear the storeroom.”

We split without discussion. Aces zip-tied the wrists of both employees and set them against the far wall. Joker held the exit, one foot on the door in case anyone got clever.

The storeroom was cold and well-organized. Metal shelving, more racks of sealed tubes, and a chest freezer with a digital lock. I popped it with a folding knife and checked inside. More of the same, only in bulk. There was a smell in here, too—chemical, sharp enough to sting your eyes.

Nines was already scanning barcodes with her phone, muttering numbers under her breath. “They’re pulling twice daily. None of these names are real.”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “We torch it all.”

From the main room, the men had started talking among themselves. It was the kind of conversation you only had in extremis—one guy explaining, in detail, his plans for the fifty-dollar payout; another bragging about how this was nothing compared to his last job, a product testing focus group for VR porn.

Back out in the open, Selene had Linda on her knees and the man next to her, both looking anywhere but at us. “You ever hear of Queens of Chaos?” she asked.

Linda shook her head. “No. Are they… are they a threat?”

Selene smiled, a little. “Not anymore.”

I could tell by her tone that she meant to send a message, but I wasn’t sure to whom. We’d had intel that this facility was a Queens front, laundering seed for black market IVF and god knows what else, but looking at it now, it just looked sad.

Joker sidled over to me, voice low. “Kind of a letdown. You think the real action is out back?”

I shrugged. “We still need to go to the basement for the sperm swimmers.”

She grinned. “Sounds like a load of fun.”

From the other end of the room, Aces called out, “Ready when you are.”

Selene did one more sweep, taking in the men, the racks, the whole clinical operation. “Spade. Take Nines. Open the basement.”

I nodded. “On it.”

There was a door behind the staff break room, secured with a keypad. Nines had already fished a crowbar out of her messenger bag, which probably meant she’d been looking forward to this part. She jammed it in, levered hard, and the cheap wood splintered open.