Chapter 114 -
Captain Victor sat in a windowless room in the basement, his hands cuffed to a metal chair bolted to the floor. The overhead light cast hard shadows across his face. Leo stood outside, watching through the one-way glass. Nia stood right beside him, her hands akimbo.
“He’s not talking,” Christian said from behind them. “It's been six hours now, yet he won't give up who else is involved.”
Leo’s jaw tightened slightly. “He will, and he must.”
Christian crossed his arms. “How do we go about this then?”
Leo didn’t answer. He just looked at Nia.
“You should go,” he said quietly.
“No.”
“Nia—”
“You said I’m part of this now. That means I have to stay.”
Silence stretched for a while. Leo studied her face carefully, searching for doubt. He didn’t find any. Finally, he nodded.
They went in together. Victor looked up when the door opened. Nia took a closer look at his features. He was middle-aged, soft around the edges, his eyes red from crying. He looked terribly exhausted.
Leo pulled out the chair opposite him and sat down while Nia remained near the door.
“Eighteen years,” Leo said. “For eighteen years you’ve eaten at my table. Your kids played in my garden. I trusted you, but this is how you repay us? This is how you repay my family?”
Victor’s voice cracked. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“The hell you do. Everyone has a choice.”
“They threatened my family. My wife, my son, my daughters. They sent pictures, Leo. Pictures containing their school schedules and voice recordings.” He swallowed hard. “They called my youngest child by name.”
Leo didn’t flinch.
“Who?”
Victor shook his head violently. “If I tell you, they’re dead.”
“If you don’t tell me,” Leo replied calmly, “you’re dead and they’re still threatened. So?”
Victor’s breathing became uneven.
“The only way to protect them,” Leo continued, “is to help me end this. Who is feeding you orders?”
Victor stared at the table.
“I never met him face to face,” he whispered. “Only received calls, texts, and instructions that disappeared after reading. Money was routed through accounts that closed within days.”
“Give me a name.”
“I don’t have one.” He hesitated. “Just a codename.”
Leo waited.
“El Cazador.”
The Hunter.
The room felt colder. Nia saw Leo’s fingers press once against the edge of the table. That was the only sign he reacted.
“When did they first contact you?” Leo asked.
“Three months ago right after Andrea’s death hit the news.”
Leo’s eyes sharpened.
“So, it has been going on for so long. They knew things,” Victor continued. “Internal details, things that were never written down. Shipment reroutes, security shift changes, private meetings, and it was all because of you!.”
Victor flinched in fear as Leo hit the table hard. Christian, who had entered quietly, spoke from behind Leo. “Brother… cacalm down. This means someone else is talking.”
Leo leaned forward slightly.
“So, what did you give them?”
“At first?” Victor’s voice shook. “They were small details. Patrol rotations, delivery windows, absolutely nothing critical.”
“And the convoy?”
Victor’s face crumpled. “They said it was surveillance. Just confirmation of departure time. I swear to you I didn’t know they’d hit it.”
“You confirmed the timing,” Leo said evenly.
“Yes.”
“And eight men died as a result.”
Victor broke then. His shoulders shook. There was no dignity left.
“Walk me through the first call,” he said.
Victor inhaled shakily.
“It came from a blocked number. The voice was distorted. The voice was calm and polite. He knew my daughter’s school had switched dismissal times that week. He said accidents happen when fathers aren’t cooperative.”
“What did he ask for?”
“At first I refused when he requested for a shipment manifest. He sent a photo of my wife’s car parked outside a grocery store afterwards. The timestamp was live.”
Christian’s jaw tightened.
“And you complied,” Leo said.
Exactly.”
“How were instructions delivered?”
“Via dead drops using a storage locker. A park bench with a carved marking underneath with burner phones inside.”
“Money?”
“Wire transfers through shell corporations. I never touched most of it. I didn’t want it.”
Leo held his gaze.
“You still took it.”
Victor looked away.
“Did you ever hear other voices?” Leo asked.
“No.”
“Did he reference anyone else?”
Victor hesitated.
“Yes.”
Leo’s voice lowered. “Who?”
“He said I wasn’t the only insurance policy.”
The words hung there.
Christian stepped forward. “Meaning?”
“He implied there were others inside.”
Silence swallowed the room. Leo absorbed that without visible reaction.
“What did he want long-term?” Leo asked.
“Destabilization,” Victor whispered. “He said your house needed to wither slowly before it could fall.”
Nia felt her stomach drop. Leo stood slowly.
“You’re going to recount every interaction from the beginning,” he said. “Dates. Exact wording. Anything unusual. If you leave something out and I find it later, I won’t offer protection twice.”
Victor nodded quickly. “You’ll move them? My family?”
“If your information checks out.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Shut the fuck up, Victor. You're lucky you're not getting executed yet. This is the only answer you’re getting. And don't you dare challenge me next time.”
Four hours later, the whiteboard outside the room was covered in notes noting dates, locations, accounts, and drop coordinates. Micheal stopped the recorder.
“That’s structured,” he muttered. “Military-level tradecraft.”
Leo nodded once. “He’s not improvising.”
Christian pointed at a cluster of dates. “Look at the pattern. Contacts spike before every internal dispute.”
“He’s studying us,” Nia said quietly.
Leo looked at her.
“Yes.”
Victor sat slumped in the chair.
“What happens to me now?” he asked weakly.
Leo faced him.
“You wait and cooperate. Like I said earlier, if your information holds, your family disappears somewhere safe.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
Leo held his eyes.
“Then you won’t need to worry about them.”
Victor lowered his head. Nia followed closely behind as Leo turned and walked out. In the hallway, Micheal exhaled slowly.
“If there are more inside…”
“There are,” Leo said.
“You sure?”
“El Cazador knew things Victor didn’t.”
Christian nodded grimly. “Which means Victor wasn’t the primary source.”
Micheal looked between them. “We move tonight?”
“Yes,” Leo said. “Every location he mentioned quietly.”
Christian followed Micheal as he left to mobilize, leaving Leo and Nia in the dim hallway.
She looked at him. “He said your house needed to wither.”
Leo’s expression was unreadable. “It already has.”
“And if there’s more than one?”
“There is.”
She searched his face. “Does that scare you?”
“It makes me extra careful.”
She stepped closer. “And angry?”
“Very angry.”
"El Cazador," she said. "The Hunter. That's Santiago, isn't it?"
"Probably. Or Valdez using Santiago's name. Either way, it's connected."
"Victor said they knew things only someone inside would know. That means there's more than one."
Leo nodded slowly. "That's what scares me."
She looked at him. "What do we do?"
"We keep going. Keep digging. Root them out one by one until there's no one left." He paused. "And we protect the people who matter.”