Chapter 10 - The Man in the Suit
The dim amber light of the service bulb flickered overhead, casting long, dancing shadows across the damp concrete walls of the maintenance tunnel. Leo froze, his sneakers glued to the floor as his heart plummeted into his stomach. Lily whimpered, burying her face into his neck, sensing the sudden terror radiating from her older brother.
The man in the tailored dark suit pushed himself off the concrete pillar and began walking slowly toward them. His polished leather shoes made a crisp, echoing clack, clack, clack against the wet floor. As he stepped closer, the amber light caught his face—clean-shaven, middle-aged, with cold, calculating blue eyes and a neat silver tie that looked completely out of place in a municipal sewer.
"Impressive run, kids," the man said smoothly, his voice carrying effortlessly down the long concrete tube. "I must admit, Miller has taught you some interesting survival instincts. Though leaving a trail of blood drops through a drainage tunnel isn't exactly stealthy."
"Stay back!" Leo yelled, taking a desperate step backward into the shadows, his arms tightening around Lily. "Who are you? What do you want with us?"
"I'm merely a representative of certain... financial interests," the man replied, stopping fifteen feet away and keeping his hands casually resting inside his coat pockets. "That briefcase your friend Miller is trying to protect doesn't belong to him. And it certainly doesn't belong to you. It belongs to people who sign very large checks to keep this city running."
"We don't have the briefcase!" Leo shouted, his voice cracking with desperation. "We never took it! That taxi driver tried to trick us!"
"Ah, yes. The taxi driver," the man smiled, a cold, humorless expression. "He’s currently regretting his career choices. But you see, Leo—may I call you Leo?—you looked right into that case. You saw the contents. In our line of work, that makes you a very inconvenient loose end."
"We won't tell anyone! Just let us go home!" Lily sobbed quietly from over Leo's shoulder.
The man tilted his head, studying Lily with a detached, clinical curiosity. "Home? What home do you have, little girl? An empty apartment with a locked door because your parents haven't paid rent in three months? We know everything about you. We know your mother is in a state facility upstate, and your uncle skipped town last winter."
Leo’s breath caught in his throat. The walls seemed to close in around them. "How do you know that?"
"Because information is the only currency that truly matters," the man said, taking another measured step forward as he finally pulled his right hand out of his coat pocket, revealing a heavy, suppressed automatic pistol that gleamed wickedly in the amber light. "And right now, you two are simply costing us too much of it."
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Before Leo could move or scream, a heavy shadow dropped down from an overhead maintenance hatch directly behind the suited man, landing with a silent thud on the concrete.
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