The stash house smelled of burnt coffee and damp cardboard, the kind of place you'd avoid unless someone was paying you to breathe wrong. I crept inside, bag slung over my shoulder, eyes scanning the shadows. Everything felt… staged. Too clean for chaos, too messy for comfort.
Click… tap… hum…
A figure emerged from the far corner, leaning lazily against a stack of crates. Shoes scuffed, coat too neat, smile too practiced. "You must be Dylan," he said, voice smooth as oil over gravel. "Name's Rook," I decided in my head. Didn't matter what he called himself he had that look of someone who'd slip a knife in before you realized your coffee was cold.
"Rook, huh?" I muttered, studying him. "Cute. Did you pick it yourself or did HR assign it?"
He laughed softly, the sound sliding over me like it belonged to the walls, not the man. "I'm here to help. You're poking at things you shouldn't. Let's make sure you… survive."
I cocked my head, weighing his words against the obvious rehearsal of his posture, the deliberate spacing of crates, the faint smell of iron lingering in the air. "Survive, you say? Bold claim. Most people just stab first, ask questions later."
He shrugged, charm perfectly calibrated. "Depends on the client."
I raised an eyebrow, letting the silence do the work while I took mental notes: direction of the crates, faint chalk marks on the floor, the emblem etched into the doorframe familiar, precise. My gut said one thing, my brain another: I didn't trust him. But curiosity, as always, had its own stubborn demands.
"Alright, Rook," I said, voice quiet but sharp. "Lead the way. Impress me, bore me, or try to kill me. I'll decide which first."
And with that, he moved forward, graceful, deliberate, while I followed, counting each step, each shadow, each small tell that said he was both useful and dangerous. Somewhere between ally and liability, he had just planted himself in my path. And I wasn't entirely sure if that was a gift or a trap.
"Perfect," I muttered under my breath, as the door shut behind us. "My new best friend. Can't wait for the betrayal portion of the tour."