Caleb moved slowly like a shadow through the corridor of the station, he was certain that Justin had been followed,
Even though this was a police station, he knew the kind of criminals that were in his town, each step as silent as his breath. He reached the front door and pressed his ear gently to the frame.
Voices… footsteps… and then…
The door swung open, and a uniformed officer stepped in, stretching his arms with a yawn. Caleb stiffened. It wasn't an intruder, it was another cop.
"Evenin'," the officer said casually, nodding as he stepped inside. "Long day."
Caleb forced a relaxed smile, his pulse still racing. "Evenin'. Just wrapping up some paperwork."
The officer gave him a tired wave and wandered deeper into the office, oblivious.
Without missing a beat, Caleb turned on his heel and hissed under his breath,
"Justin, hide. Do it now," he whispered.
Not wanting the office to see him and Barry familiarising with a known criminal.
Justin barely had time to duck behind the filing cabinet before the officer glanced back.
Caleb leaned against the doorway, chatting idly until the officer gathered his things and muttered something about grabbing a drink before bed.
As soon as the door clicked shut again, the room fell into silence.
Caleb spun around to face Justin, his calm expression shattering into hard steel.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he snapped, his voice low and sharp like a knife. "You came to a police station, Justin. A place crawling with cops, half of them would love to lock you away forever."
"I needed to talk to you," Justin said, stepping out of the shadows like a guilty ghost. "It was urgent."
"So urgent you couldn't send a message? You had to walk through the front door like some street punk trying to get caught?"
Barry, seated at his desk, looked between them, his expression tense. "He's right, man. Anyone could've seen you. Do you even realise what would happen if your face shows up on our internal cams?"
Justin's smirk vanished. "No one saw me," he said with quiet conviction.
Barry rolled his eyes. "You don't know that."
"I do," Justin shot back. "I came in through the back lot. Avoided every camera and used a stolen access card. I know what I'm doing."
"You think you know," Caleb said, stepping forward, eyes burning. "But if even one officer got curious, if one person recognised your face, it's over for you as an informant. No one knows you are our informant here, and you know that."
Justin's jaw twitched, but he didn't back down. "I didn't come here to get scolded. I came here because we're running out of time, and I think Don Khan knows something is not right. I am also in trouble.."
That made Caleb pause. A flicker of concern crossed his face.
Barry leaned back slowly. "Then maybe you should've led with that."
Justin shrugged, sarcasm returning like a mask. "Sorry, next time I'll book an appointment."
Barry shot back, "A criminal is always in trouble."
Caleb rubbed his temples, trying to calm the storm brewing inside him. "You've got five minutes, Justin. Say what you came to say, then get the hell out of here."
Justin nodded, eyes sharp now, voice low and fast.
"Fine. But when I'm done, you'll understand why walking in here was the least dangerous part of my day."
And just like that, the air shifted.
Justin leaned against the filing cabinet, arms crossed tightly over his chest, his face carved into grim lines. The overhead light blinked once, buzzing faintly, as if the building itself could feel the weight of what he was about to say.
Caleb stood rigid, his hands on his hips, jaw ticking with impatience. Barry simply stared, waiting, a pen still dangling forgotten in his hand.
Justin inhaled sharply, as if trying to draw in enough air to say the words.
"I got a job," he began, his voice low and sharp. "Big one. Someone powerful paid me to lift something important off you, Caleb."
Caleb's brows furrowed dangerously. "Me?"
Justin nodded once. "They wanted the Key."
The room went still. Even Barry, who was usually the sarcastic one, shifted uncomfortably.
Justin pushed off the cabinet and paced the small space. His movements were quick, agitated, like a wolf trapped in a cage.
"I wasn't supposed to do it myself," he continued. "Too risky. You're too damn sharp. I needed someone better, someone who could get close without raising alarms."
He stopped and turned to face them fully, his voice dropping into something almost regretful.
"That's why I sent Kalisa."
Caleb's fists tightened at his sides. His face was an unreadable mask, but Barry could see the storm gathering in his eyes.
"She was perfect," Justin went on, almost pleading. "Smart, fast, invisible when she needed to be. She could've done it clean or would've, if everything hadn't gone to hell."
Caleb's voice was like ice. "What happened?"
Justin's mouth twisted into a bitter grimace. "Kalisa made a mistake. A fatal one."
He hesitated, then said it all in a rush:
"Instead of picking your pocket, she lifted the wallet of Don Khan."
The name hit the room like a thunderclap. Barry cursed under his breath. Caleb's eyes narrowed into lethal slits.
"You're telling me," Caleb said slowly, voice vibrating with barely contained fury, "that Kalisa stole from Don Khan, the most ruthless mafia lord in Texas?"
Justin gave a sharp, humourless laugh. "Yeah. Congratulations. She didn't just pick the wrong guy. She picked the worst guy."
He raked a hand through his hair, agitated. "Now, Don Khan's got his goons tearing apart the city looking for her. And me? I'm a marked man because I didn't deliver the Key like I promised."
Barry whistled low. "You're both dead meat."
Justin shrugged one shoulder, but there was a glint of fear behind his cocky bravado. "Not if we fix this."
Caleb took a slow step forward, his voice deadly calm. "And tell me, Justin, how exactly do you propose we fix this?"
Justin swallowed, the first real crack in his expression showing.
"I don't know yet," he admitted. "But if we don't move fast, it won't matter."
He looked directly at Caleb then, all pretence gone.
"Kalisa's life is hanging by a thread. You think Don Khan will forgive being robbed in broad daylight? He'll make an example out of her... and me... and anyone stupid enough to get in his way."
A beat of silence stretched, heavy and suffocating.
Caleb's mind was already racing, calculating risks, planning exits. He didn't like Justin. He didn't trust him. But one thing was clear:
If they didn't act soon, the bodies would start piling up.
The tension that filled the room was suffocating. Caleb's face was a mask of cold fury as he turned on Justin, his voice a low growl barely controlled.
"You were supposed to inform me," Caleb hissed through gritted teeth. "You're my informant, damn it! You don't move without my say-so!"
Justin pushed away from the wall, arms wide in exasperation. "And blow my cover?" he shot back, voice sharp. "You think the people I deal with wouldn't notice if I started cozying up to a cop? I'd be dead in a ditch somewhere before sunset."
"You'd rather piss me off than risk being seen as a snitch?" Caleb demanded, stepping closer, nostrils flaring.
Justin stood his ground, his expression grim. "Yeah," he said simply. "I would. If you were me, you'd have done the same."
For a heartbeat, it looked like Caleb might actually punch him. His fists clenched, his jaw ticking.
Barry, sensing the heat about to erupt, jumped in. "Wait! Hold up, both of you."
He looked sharply at Caleb. "You still have the Key, right? The one you recovered? You better make damn sure Kalisa didn't get it."
The question sliced through the room like a blade.
Caleb's eyes darkened, and without a word, he pulled his wallet from his jacket pocket. He flipped it open with a practised snap.
Tucked neatly inside, secured in a hidden slot, was the Key, a strange, unassuming piece of metal, gold in colour but carrying a weight none of them could fully measure.
"Still here," Caleb said, holding it up between two fingers. His voice was steady, confident. "Kalisa never got it."
Barry exhaled in relief, and even Justin's shoulders dropped a fraction.
None of them noticed the subtle difference.
None of them realised the key that Kalisa had slipped into Caleb's wallet wasn't the real one.
The real Key was gone.
And somewhere, Kalisa held the fate of all of them in her bloodstained hands.