Chapter 8: Ambush at the Rail Yard

Ruiz didn’t come after us. My warning had hit its mark. But Marcus was far from finished.

He was still desperate, still cornered. And desperate men make predictable mistakes.

Elena’s phone chimed in my hand. I’d kept it after extracting her, monitoring it. A text message.

*Meet me at the old rail yard. End of the line. I have your exit cash.*

It was from Marcus. He’d never intended to give her a dollar. This was a trap.

“He’s trying to silence me,” Elena whispered, her face tight with terror. We were sitting in my car, parked near the desolate entrance to the rail yard. The afternoon sun cast long, skeletal shadows of abandoned boxcars.

“He wants to destroy the cipher book,” I confirmed, gripping her phone. “And you along with it.”

“He said to come alone,” she added, her voice trembling. “No one else.”

“He knows you’re a loose end,” I said, my gaze sweeping the rust-eaten tracks and overgrown weeds. “And he thinks you’ll fall for it.”

He’d used the one thing Elena still craved: a final payout, a chance to escape. Marcus was a master manipulator.

I pulled up the GPS location Elena had given me earlier, mapping out the rail yard. A network of disused tracks, broken-down sheds, and forgotten freight containers. Perfect for an ambush.

“We need to get you in there, and then get you out,” I explained, turning to Elena. “He won’t expect me. He’ll expect you to be vulnerable.”

“But… how?” she asked, her voice barely audible.

I pointed to a large, industrial forklift parked near a disused loading dock, partially obscured by a pile of discarded lumber. It was old, grimy, but looked functional.

“That’s our ride,” I said. “He expects you to walk in there alone. He’ll have a thug waiting.”

I studied the layout. Marcus had probably picked a secluded spot, a dead end. Somewhere Elena couldn’t run.

My eyes landed on a particularly isolated boxcar, its door ajar, leading into total darkness. It was nestled deep in the yard, far from any roads or escape routes.

“That’s where he’ll be,” I decided, pointing to the boxcar. “Or where he’ll send you.”

Elena was shaking her head, her fear palpable. “I can’t go in there. He’ll kill me.”

“He’ll try,” I acknowledged, starting the engine of my car. “But you won’t be alone for long. Trust me.”

I drove the car into a thicket of overgrown brush, out of sight. My plan was risky, dependent on timing and Marcus’s overconfidence.

I needed to extract her before the trap fully sprang.