Chapter 41 Chapter 41
I could not breathe. The air in the safe house felt thick and heavy, like it was pushing down on my chest. Damien walked back and forth across the room, and every step sounded loud. His knuckles were bloody from hitting the wall, and his eyes looked angry in a way I had never seen before. Marcus sat in the corner with his head in his hands and blood still dried on his face. The silence between them was worse than any shouting.
"Someone told them." Damien's voice was low and dangerous. "Someone in my group told those people exactly where we would be and exactly when to attack."
"We do not know that for sure," Marcus said, but his voice shook. "It could have been luck. Victor could have hired them."
"Victor was just as surprised as we were!" Damien turned fast and grabbed Marcus by his shirt. "I saw his face when the shooting started. He did not plan that attack, and you know it."
I pressed myself against the wall and tried to stay quiet. My hands would not stop shaking, and every time I closed my eyes, I saw Claudia disappearing into the smoke. I had promised to protect her. I had looked her in the eyes and said nothing would go wrong. And now she was gone, and I had no idea who took her or why.
"Let him go." I stepped forward even though my legs felt weak. "Fighting each other will not bring Claudia back."
Damien let go of Marcus and turned to look at me. The pain in his eyes made my heart hurt. "This is my fault," he said quietly. "I should have seen this coming. I should have known it was too easy."
"You could not have known." I walked to him and put my hand on his arm. His skin was warm under my fingers, and I felt his heart beating fast. "None of us could have guessed a third group would show up."
"That is the problem." He pulled away from me and started walking again. "I have been so focused on Victor that I did not see the real danger. The Syndicate has been moving this whole time, and I have been too blind to notice."
The name hit me hard. "The Syndicate? The same one from the flash drive?"
"Yes." Damien stopped moving and looked at me. "I have been trying to find them for months, but they are like ghosts. No names, no faces, nothing to follow. But somehow they knew about tonight. They knew about Claudia, and they knew exactly when to attack."
My mind went back to the flash drive. The secret files and the list of names, and the money movements that made no sense. Marcus had been on that list. So had several of Damien's other men. "What if the leak is not new?" I asked slowly. "What if someone has been giving them information for a long time?"
Marcus stood up fast. "What are you saying?"
"I am saying maybe we have been looking at this wrong. Maybe Victor is not the only enemy. Maybe The Syndicate has people inside your group, and they have been watching and waiting for the right time to move."
Damien's face went white. "If that is true, then we cannot trust anyone. Not my men, not my friends, not even the people in this room."
"You can trust me," Marcus said, but his voice broke.
"Can I?" Damien moved closer to him, and I saw the hurt under his anger. "You were on that flash drive, Marcus. Your name was right there next to the money I never approved. So tell me the truth. Are you working for them?"
"No!" Marcus's hands shook, and tears filled his eyes. "I swear to you, Damien. Whatever is on that drive, I did not know about it. Someone must have used my name or copied my signature. I would never hurt you. You are my brother."
The word hung in the air between them. Brother. The same word Damien had used when he told me about Marcus's first betrayal. I watched them look at each other and the history between them felt like something alive. Years of trust and pain and loyalty all mixed together until neither of them knew where one ended and the other began.
"I want to believe you," Damien said finally. "But believing is not enough anymore. Not when people are dying."
A knock on the door made us all jump. One of Damien's men came inside and his face looked serious. "Sir, we found something at the warehouse. You need to see this."
We followed him outside to where a black van was parked. The back doors were open and inside I saw equipment. Cameras, microphones, recording things. Everything you would need to watch someone without them knowing. Damien climbed into the van and started looking through the boxes. His face got darker with every piece he touched.
"They were recording everything," he said. "The trade, our positions, even what we said before Victor came. This was not just an attack. This was them learning about us."
"For what?" I asked.
"To learn how we work. To find out our plans and our weak spots." He pulled out a laptop and turned it on. The screen lit up and showed many video feeds. All of them were from different spots at the warehouse. "They have been planning this for weeks. Maybe months."
I felt sick. Claudia had walked into a trap and we had brought her there. "We have to find her," I said. "We have to get her back before they hurt her."
"We will." Damien closed the laptop and his face looked hard. "But first we need to know who we are fighting. The Syndicate does not take people for no reason. If they took Claudia, it is because she has something they want."
"Like what? She is just a girl who saw the wrong thing at the wrong party."
"Maybe." Marcus stepped closer to the van. "Or maybe she saw more than we think. What if she has information about The Syndicate and does not even know it? What if that is why they have been watching her?"
The thought made my blood feel cold. Claudia had been at that party. She had seen Victor and his men. She had walked through rooms where secrets were bought and sold. What if she had found something bigger than any of us knew?
My phone buzzed in my pocket. The sound was loud in the quiet night and everyone turned to look at me. I pulled it out with shaking hands and looked at the screen. Unknown number. The message was short and written in a code I did not understand. But at the bottom, clear as anything, were three letters that made my heart stop.
Help. C.
"What is it?" Damien asked.
I turned the phone so he could see and watched his face change. "It is from Claudia," I whispered. "She is asking for help."