Fifi gave a tight shake of her head.“She never does when something’s a miss.”
Diamond sighed, turning toward her car.
Sayer walked beside her in silence until she slowed, fingers brushing the keys in her pocket, her gaze dropping for a beat.
“Listen,”she said. Her voice a little quieter now.
“I know you want to make this run with me. But you need to know, we could be on the road for more than a week. Might not be clean, and it damn sure won’t be easy. So if you have responsibilities…”
Sayer didn’t hesitate.“Nothing I can’t set aside.”
She looked at him, searching for something in his face. Whatever she saw made her nod. “Okay.”
No promises. No reassurances. Just that single word and everything hanging inside it.
The house was quiet in that specific way which meantsomeoneinside was pissed. The lights were on, but there was no music, no chatter, no clinking of bottles in the kitchen. Just silence and tension so thick it hit Diamond the second she opened the door.
Nova was seated at the table in the kitchen, a half-burned cigarette resting in the ashtray beside her, untouched. That alone told Diamond everything she needed to know.
“You’re late,”Nova said, without looking up. Her voice was calm, clipped, lethal in its restraint.
Diamond shut the door behind her.“Didn’t realize there was a schedule.”
Sayer hung back in the doorway, watching the exchange with sharp eyes, reading the room like a man used to walking into volatile spaces.
Nova finally lifted her gaze, pinning Diamond with it.“There wasn’t. But now there is.”She stood slowly, pressing both palms to the table like she was holding herself steady.“We’ve got movement in the south—real movement. Not fake accounts or scare tactics. Someone’s testing us, and they’re not being quiet about it anymore.”
Diamond crossed her arms, jaw tight.“Why didn’t I hear this from Fifi?”
“Because I wanted to be the one to tell you. Because I want to look you in the eye when I say it. We’ve got a problem, and I think it’s someone inside.”
That landed heavily.
Sayer stepped forward now, tone measured.“You have names?”
Nova’s eyes flicked to him, then back to Diamond.“Not yet. But I’ve narrowed it to three. And one of them is too damn close to our supply chain for my comfort.” She stepped around the table, grabbing a thin folder and tossing it down. “We need to move quietly. No panic. No heat. But you need to know what we’re walking into tonight may not be as simple as a delivery run.”
“Okay,”she said again, this time not to Sayer but to Nova, to the weight in the room, to the storm gathering just over the horizon.“Then we do what we always do.”
“We make sure no one walks away from this, thinking they can fuck with us.”
Nova nodded. “Exactly.”
Diamond flipped open the folder, scanning the first page. It wasn’t a name that caught her attention. It was a photo. Grainy surveillance stills. One of their transport vans parked behind a gas station two towns over.
“Where the hell did this come from?”she asked, voice low.
“An anonymous tip,”Nova said, jaw tight.“Dropped in our encrypted inbox early this morning. Along with it came a burner email containing partial license plates, timestamps, even coordinates for a safe house we shut down last year. Nothing current… but too close.”
Diamond’s stomach turned.“Someone’s watching our old routes.”
Nova nodded.“And either they’ve been inside before, or they got access to records we thought were buried.” She paused. “That’s why I said it might be someone on the inside.”
Sayer stepped closer, eyes narrowing at the file.“Could be someone you helped. Someone trying to hurt you with what they learned.”
“Could be.”Nova crossed her arms.“But the file was clean. No vengeful tone. No demands. Just quiet exposure. Like they wanted us toknowwe were being watched.”
Diamond closed the folder, her voice steel,“They’re testing our defenses.”
