Page 186 of The Dark Stranger
“How do you know?”
“Because if it were federal, we’d already be in custody.”
He’s right. I know he’s right. But that doesn’t make me feel better.
If it’s not the feds, then who?
A rival family? Someone with a vendetta? Someone we crossed?
The list is too long. Too many enemies. Too many people who want to see us burn.
I glance at the monitors again. Empty cells. Blank feeds. Nothing.
“Pull the footage again,” I say.
Cesario sighs. “We’ve already—”
“I said pull it again.”
He exchanges a look with my father. My father nods.
Cesario taps the tablet, and the monitors shift to surveillance footage from the auction night—the warehouse exterior, the loading docks, the perimeter.
I watch frame by frame, looking for something. Anything. A face. A license plate. A mistake.
But there’s nothing.
The vehicles that hit us had no plates. The men who breached were masked, dressed in tactical gear with no identifying marks.
They knew what they were doing. They knewexactlywhat they were doing.
“Whoever did this,” I say slowly, “they’ve been watching us.”
My father’s expression doesn’t change.
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Long enough to know our schedule. Our security. Our buyers.”
I feel my stomach twist.
“So we have a mole.”
Silence.
Cesario shifts his weight. My father’s eyes narrow slightly.
“Possibly,” he says.
Possibly.
Possibly.
I want to scream.
Instead, I turn and walk out of the room.
