Chapter 38 - Kane
The timestamp flashes across Kane’s HUD.
>5:50 A.M.
A sweep follows, appearing over the street in his periphery as the visor populates its tags.
>STOREFRONT: ABANDONED
>PARKING DECK: COMPROMISED
>SEC DRONES (CODA): 4 ONLINE
Nothing out of the ordinary. Kane keeps moving, eyes on the road ahead.
This isn’t his usual patrol. District Four belonged to Wren’s squad. He took the route after last week, when her bikers were nearly overrun by Natural Order operatives.
Drones survey the residential blocks while Viper’s team secures the perimeters. But the main drag is too central, too exposed to hand off to anyone else.
And Kane refuses to rush, no matter what he told Rafael about being home by six. The man will be waiting in their quarters at this hour without fail. Unless the sun is out, and Pixie’s glued to his side.
He exhales as he crosses the street. Pixie’s been running herself ragged, anyway. In the forty-eight hours since Rafael’s return, Kane hasn’t had a moment to draft a schedule to give her a break.
She and Echo covered for him last night, too, escorting Rafael to Midtown to pick up his things, while Kane was stuck interrogating a Natural Order captive with Viper. A complete waste in the end.
As he rounds the corner past a closed Terra’s Hyper Food, an alert flashes across his overlay.
[CODA: PACKAGED MISSED SITE. DID NOT LAND.]
He stops mid-step, reading the message once, then again. It still doesn’t add up.
Synth runs don’t slip. Not when the whole neighborhood depends on the stuff. A splash in their synthohol keeps people functional, and the stronger hits help those trying to quit the harder poisons.
Either way, a missed run puts them all at risk—and blows a hole in his crew’s funding.
No one knows that better than Echo, a former addict before Kane’s aunt helped get her clean. She’s usually managing these drops.
And she would’ve handled this, too, if Kane hadn’t taken over every run in and out of Shreveport lately. Supply lines are too important to leave to chance.
Like Tuesday’s breach in this very district.
Natural Order got through the holowall. Again. Viper’s team managed to hold the line, retake lost ground, and shut the incursion down.
Because Kane stepped in.
Yet the cost still weighs on him. Three rookies paid withtheir lives, two residents were caught in the crossfire, and an entire drone squad was destroyed.
All from an attack that could’ve been avoided if Viper had listened and sent the new recruits to the border for extra defense.
He pushes the images out of his mind. Dwelling won’t bring anyone back. Kane taps the side of his visor and connects to Echo.
“Yo, boss man—”
“Where’s the delivery from Malik’s team?” Kane cuts her off.
Static hisses in the commlink. The HUD pulls his focus.
>CALL: ECHO