( third person's pov).
It was 6:15 AM.
Raina sat quietly in the back seat, staring at the message glowing on her phone screen.
"We got him."
The city moved past outside the tinted windows in long grey streaks while Malik drove through the early morning roads without speaking.
She read the message again.
Then again.
Her thumb hovered over the screen before she finally locked the phone and leaned back into the seat.
The inside of the car fell quiet.
And her mind slipped back to two days ago.
TWO DAYS AGO.
Frank's voice had sounded unusually careful over the phone.
"I have an idea on how to draw Malcolm out directly."
Raina had already hated the tone before he finished the sentence.
"What kind of idea?"
"The kind that works," Frank said. "But you're not going to like it."
A beat of silence.
"Let's use Ethan as bait."
"No," Raina said immediately. "We are not using him. I'm trying to keep him away from this, not pull him into it."
"Hear me out boss," Frank replied. "Malcolm had Ethan's photograph. He's been watching him. He knows you're looking for him now so he's avoiding direct contact with you. But Ethan is different."
Raina said nothing.
"Sooner or later," Frank continued, "he was always going to show up around Ethan. He already has."
That was the problem.
Because Frank was right and Raina hated how completely right he was.
"Let me follow Ethan," Frank said. "The moment Malcolm shows himself we move before he can disappearance again."
Raina stared at the ceiling of her room for a long moment.
It was a good plan. A dangerous one. But good.
"I'll call Tengu," she said finally. "You're not doing this alone. Malcolm is an ex-boxer. I'd rather you come back in one piece."
Frank gave a quiet laugh. "Appreciated."
"I'm serious Frank."
"I know."
"And Frank." She paused. "Do not let Ethan see you. He knows your face."
A grin entered his voice immediately. "Still mad about the cotton candy stand?"
"You embarrassed me professionally."
"That's impossible. You're terrifying."
"Frank."
"Right. Serious mode. You can count on me boss."
She ended the call and immediately dialled Tengu.
He arranged backup within the hour. Three men. Experienced and efficient.
One of them was Jun.
Jun rarely spoke. Thin frame, glasses, usually positioned behind a laptop with multiple surveillance feeds open simultaneously. He had helped Tengu narrow down over a hundred Rhonda Steins to Just four . He could pull security feeds from places he had no legal business accessing.
Which was exactly why Raina needed him.
The memory shifted.
YESTERDAY...
Malik had driven her to the hospital when Ethan called to say Grace was being discharged.
The lilies sat carefully in her lap during the ride. White. Fresh. Grace's favourite.
Outside the hospital entrance a black sedan was already parked across the street with dark tinted windows.
Raina unlocked her phone and typed.
All set?
Frank replied immediately.
All set.
Everything after that looked normal.
Grace's discharge papers. Dr Kade walking the brothers through medication schedules and recovery precautions with the patient thoroughness of someone who knew they needed to hear it twice. Nathan carrying bags and joking the entire time. Ethan introducing Raina as his girlfriend, the word landing warm and deliberate in the hospital corridor.
His girlfriend....
It still sat warmly somewhere in her chest when she turned it over.
Through all of it Frank stayed nearby. Watching. Waiting. Following at a distance no one would notice.
By the time Ethan and his family reached the apartment building that evening Jun already had access to most of the surrounding security cameras in the area. The laptop screen glowed inside the sedan while light rain streaked softly across the windshield.
Jun tapped a few keys.
Camera feeds shifted rapidly.
Street corner. Crosswalk. Rear alley. Apartment entrance.
"Movement," Jun said.
Frank leaned forward.
A hooded figure appeared on one of the screens. Male. Tall. Moving carefully toward the alley beside Ethan's building. Frank narrowed his eyes.
"Sharpen it."
Jun zoomed in.
Not enough for a face. But enough. The posture. The build. The deliberate controlled movement of someone who had done this before.
Frank's expression changed.
"That's him."
The car doors opened at once.
Tengu's men moved without hesitation. One circled toward the back entrance of the alley. Another crossed the street casually, phone in hand. Frank stayed near the mouth of the alley, eyes fixed ahead.
Everything had to happen fast.
Before Malcolm spoke to Ethan. Before Ethan recognised him. Before things spiralled beyond control.
Jun's voice crackled softly through Frank's earpiece.
"He's approaching Ethan now."
Frank looked up in time to see Ethan turning toward the shadows.
"Whoever you are," Ethan said sharply. "Why are you following me? I'll call the cops."
Too close.
Frank moved immediately.
"One team distract," he ordered quietly. "Other team cut off his exit."
One of Tengu's men kicked over a stack of metal paint cans near the side passage.
The crash exploded through the alley. Sharp. Violent. Loud enough to pull Ethan's attention instantly.
Ethan turned toward the noise.
And in that exact moment Malcolm ran.
Not toward Ethan. Away. Deep into the residential passageway behind the building, moving fast, much faster than a man his size had any business moving.
"After him!" Frank snapped.
The chase broke open immediately.
Rainwater splashed beneath their shoes as they tore through the narrow path between buildings. Malcolm vaulted a low fence without slowing. Frank followed, landing hard, one of Tengu's men nearly losing his footing on the wet pavement behind him.
Malcolm cut sharply around a parked car and sprinted across the backstreet.
Frank gained ground.
Lost it again.
The man could move.
"Left!" Jun's voice came through the earpiece. "He's heading toward the drainage path!"
Frank saw it. A narrow service lane between two residential buildings. Malcolm ducked into it without breaking stride.
Dead end.
He reached the fence at the far side and started climbing.
One of Tengu's men hit him sideways before he cleared it.
All three crashed hard into the wet pavement.
Malcolm fought like a man with nothing to lose. Elbows. Knees. Wild precise force that came from years in a boxing gym. One punch landed clean across a jaw hard enough to stagger the man backward.
Frank moved in.
The cloth went firmly over Malcolm's mouth and nose.
Malcolm struggled. Violent at first. Then weaker. Then slower.
Then still.
The alley went quiet except for heavy breathing and distant rainwater dripping from gutters above.
Frank crouched beside him.
"So you're Malcolm."
No response.
He looked up. "Get him in the trunk."
The men moved quickly. Wrists restrained. Trunk closed.
And just like that Malcolm disappeared again.
Only this time they were the ones hiding him.
PRESENT TIME .....
The warehouse stood at the edge of the industrial district, isolated between abandoned storage buildings and rusted fencing. Cold morning air drifted through the broken upper windows as Malik pulled the car to a stop outside.
Raina stared at the building through the windscreen.
Silent. Still.
The message echoed inside her head.
We got him.
For the first time in months Malcolm wasn't watching from the shadows anymore.
Now he was waiting for her.
She went inside....