6:12 AM – Safehouse 7, Eastside Industrial Zone
The new hideout was a forgotten maintenance building near the old rail lines — moldy walls, rusted pipes, and a busted camera on every corner. Perfect.
Kairo plugged the flash drive from Silas into a laptop, bypassing the encryption with the same calm precision he used to dismantle a rifle. Alicia sat across from him, sipping bitter instant coffee, eyes glued to the screen.
A list of names scrolled down:
Councilman Durell Bexley – Human trafficking connections
Captain Morrow – Police fixer for Tang
Dr. Ilsa Renn – Pharmaceutical partner, experimental drug tests on runaways
Crowe – [Redacted Access]
Kairo's jaw clenched.
Alicia pointed. "That's… Bexley. That's the guy running for mayor, right?"
"Yeah," Kairo muttered. "Which means he's clean on paper. Too clean."
He clicked into a subfolder. Photos. Documents. Wire transfers.
It was all there.
Bexley was working with Tang. Funding their trafficking routes. Silencing whistleblowers. And his campaign? Bought with blood money.
"Exposing this would bury him," Alicia said, her voice quiet.
Kairo looked up at her. "Not just him. It's our opening shot."
She gave him a wary look. "You're not going to kill him, are you?"
"No," Kairo said. "Not yet. We let the truth kill him first."
11:00 AM – Midtown News Channel HQ
Marla Dovens, an independent journalist with a history of pissing off powerful people, leaned over her desk as the flash drive loaded.
"You're lucky I still owe Silas a favor," she muttered. "But you sure you want this public? This isn't going to make you a hero. It'll make you a damn target."
Kairo, now in a stolen security uniform and cap, kept his face hidden. "I'm already a target. Time to return the favor."
She opened a document — a contract signed by Bexley, detailing the "relocation" of street kids under the guise of "city development programs." The signatures matched. The accounts matched. She looked up, shaken.
"This is enough to ruin him."
"Good," Kairo said. "Ruin him. Loudly."
Marla grinned. "Oh, sweetheart… I'm going nuclear."
3:45 PM – Somewhere Near Tang Territory
Two men stepped into a tattoo shop that didn't advertise tattoos.
Inside, the air was thick with cigar smoke and sweat.
A man sat in the back chair, surrounded by gold chains and dead eyes. His left arm bore a red Tang Dragon tattoo.
His phone buzzed. He answered.
A voice crackled on the other end — male, clipped, commanding.
"He just exposed Bexley. On live television. We underestimated him."
The man didn't flinch.
"He's not just a rogue assassin anymore. He's trying to burn the whole web."
The man smiled.
"Then we burn him first."
6:02 PM – Alicia's Perspective – Safehouse 7
Alicia stared out the cracked window, arms folded. The city looked the same — cars, lights, noise — but everything felt different. She couldn't unsee the documents. The images. The children who were never coming home.
And now, she was in hiding with a trained killer… who also happened to be her boyfriend.
She hated that she still cared. But she did.
"Do you regret telling me?" she asked softly.
Kairo sat across the room, cleaning his sidearm. He paused.
"No," he said. "I regret not telling you sooner."
She looked at him. "If you die doing this… what do I tell people you were?"
Kairo met her eyes.
"Tell them I was finally living."
9:10 PM – Organization HQ, War Room
Crowe stood in front of a holographic map as red dots pulsed across the city — agents, assets, eyes. All tracking one person.
Kairo Vale.
Vance entered the room. "The Bexley leak made international headlines. Every outlet has it."
Crowe didn't blink. "Good. That means he's started his war."
"You think this is about justice?"
Crowe smiled faintly. "This is about revenge. He thinks we ruined his life. Let him think that. The truth will destroy him better than any bullet."
Vance raised an eyebrow. "And what's the truth?"
Crowe turned to face the screen — Kairo's face frozen mid-frame.
"That everything he knows… is a lie."
11:57 PM – Tang Warehouse, Dock 14
A man stood under a flickering floodlight, cigarette dangling from his mouth.
He never saw it coming.
Crack.
A single suppressed shot — dead center.
The second man didn't even get a scream out.
Kairo moved through the shadows like a ghost, disabling cameras and planting bugs. This wasn't a hit.
It was recon.
Inside the warehouse, rows of crates. Markings matched the files.
This was one of Tang's major hubs — and from what Silas had said, just the beginning.
He snapped photos. Downloaded files.
Alicia's voice whispered in his earpiece. "Still breathing?"
"Yeah," Kairo replied. "But the fire's started."