Ace walked through the city streets, the crumpled Ace of Spades card burning a hole in his pocket. The threat – "PAY UP. OR NEXT TIME WE WILL BURN IT." – echoed in his mind. Fear mixed with cold anger. Deke had invaded his space, his hard-won sanctuary. He wouldn't let that slide.
He needed proof of Deke's crimes, just like the System demanded. Proof could protect him. Proof could expose Deke. Proof could be leverage. He needed a way to record conversations. He needed a voice recorder.
He took a bus across town, far from Deke's usual territory. He found a small electronics store tucked between a bakery and a shoe repair shop. Inside, he browsed the shelves. He found a small, basic voice recorder. It looked simple: a black plastic rectangle with a microphone hole, a record button, a stop button, and a small speaker. It used a standard SD memory card and ran on two AAA batteries. The price tag read $29.99. It wasn't fancy, but it was cheap and discreet.
