Jill's voice cracked through the earpiece—urgent, shaken.
"They killed Victor."
Barney's heart froze mid-beat. He turned from the window, jaw tightening.
Jill continued:
"If they took him out, they know you're here. We need to move. Now."
Barney glanced back at the street. "What about the drop?"
Jill:
"Screw the drop. It's not priority right now. We need elevation—a vantage point. Somewhere with a view and a single exit."
Barney (frustrated):
"We're close, Jill. That package has the second part of the ledger."
Jill (cutting him off):
"If they know you're near this city, that means the info has already leaked to bounty networks. It's not just corporate dogs anymore—hunters are coming. And they don't ask questions."
Barney's stomach turned. He looked down at his hands—trembling.
Barney:
"How long do you think we have?"
Jill:
"Minutes if they're smart. An hour if we're lucky. But you're not gambling anymore, remember?"
Barney grabbed his jacket, his burner phone, and slung the black bag over his shoulder.
"Where to?"
Jill (already tracking):
"Abandoned broadcast tower, west side. Elevation, steel doors, and one road in."
Barney moved fast. No second-guessing now.
Jill:
"They didn't just kill Victor to stop the leak… they killed him to light a fire."
Barney (muttering):
"And I'm the smoke they're hunting…"
Barney weaved through back alleys, hoodie up, city noise muffled under adrenaline and purpose. Jill's voice stayed close in his ear, a tether in the chaos.
Jill:
"I don't have many eyes out here. This part of the city's a blind spot—few working cams, no smart grid. Once we're at the tower, it's all you. You'll need to stay sharp. Anyone could show up."
Barney:
"So, I'm walking into a shadowbox with my hands half-tied?"
Jill (quietly):
"You're walking into a place they're not watching… yet. That's the best kind of risk we've got left."
He reached the outskirts—where the skyline broke and infrastructure gave way to rust. The old broadcast tower loomed in the fog, skeletal and forgotten. Chain-link fencing half-collapsed, doors unbolted by time and vandals.
Jill:
"Once you're inside, no talking unless it's necessary. Minimize noise. You're safer in silence."
Barney nodded silently and slipped through a broken gap in the fence. The building creaked as he entered. Dust curled in the air like ghosts of static.
Concrete stairs groaned under his weight as he climbed. Fourth floor. Then the fifth. At the top, he stepped into the broadcast room—windows shattered, ancient equipment gutted. But it had line of sight over the entire sector.
He set his pack down, crouched low, and scanned the streets below.
Barney (whispering):
"Now what?"
Jill:
"Now… we watch. We wait."
Silence thickened. A faint wind whistled through broken glass. Barney adjusted the strap on his shoulder and kept his eyes on the alley below.
For a moment, his breathing slowed
***A memory surfaced—unexpected, sharp. The first time he and Jill had met, before everything went sideways.
He remembered the old café near the docks—the rain tapping gently against the window as they talked for hours. She'd laughed then, bright and clear, that laugh that had pulled him in like a lifeline. How different things were now, her voice crackling over the earpiece, tense and urgent.
"You always said the city never sleeps," she had teased him, eyes sparkling with challenge.
He had smiled, the weight of the world not yet pressing on his shoulders. "Yeah, but with you, it feels like it might."
The warmth of that moment flickered briefly like a candle in the dark before the harsh present slammed back into focus. ***
Then—
A flicker.
Something moved between buildings. Just outside the tower's perimeter. Fast. Too fast for a casual pedestrian.
Barney's eyes narrowed. He stood slowly, pressing his back to the wall beside the window, breath caught in his throat.
Barney crouched low by the broken window, eyes locked on the shadow moving through the alley below. The silence pressed in, thick and heavy.
His breath hitched, chest tightening. His heart hammered hard—too loud, too fast.
Jill's voice came through his earpiece, calm but sharp.
"Barney? You okay? Your vitals just spiked. Your heart rate's way up."
Barney swallowed hard, then whispered:
"Someone's here."