The absorption of the Boryokudan sent a tremor through the underworld. It was a bloodless coup, a display of power so sophisticated that most of Renji's new rivals didn't even understand how it had been achieved. Some were intimidated into silence. Others, however, saw it as a declaration of war.
The message from Cairo arrived not through encrypted channels, but as a public statement on a deep web forum. It was from Tariq Al-Amir, the charismatic and fanatical leader of the Red Hand Brigade.
"The technocrats of the West believe they can buy the world with their ghosts and their numbers," the message read. "They offer a future of sterile, soulless order. We offer a future forged in fire. We will not be bought. We will not be assimilated. We will burn your new world to the ground."
Renji stood with Anya Petrova, watching the message loop on a holographic screen in the Clock Tower.
"He's an ideologue," Anya said, her arms crossed. "You cannot reason with a man like this. He doesn't want money or power. He wants martyrs."
"Every man has a price," Renji countered, his gaze fixed on the fanatic's face. "His just isn't monetary." He turned away from the screen and looked at the global map. The Red Hand's influence was a web of red lines spreading through North Africa and the Middle East, fueled by extremist rhetoric and preying on the disenfranchised. Kuro's digital warfare could disrupt their finances, but it couldn't disrupt an idea.
"He wants a war," Renji said, a cold finality in his tone. "So we will give him one. But it will be on our terms."
He began to issue a series of quiet, precise orders. He wasn't preparing for an invasion. He was preparing for a surgical strike. He had Anya dispatch a small, elite team—not to attack, but to gather intelligence on the ground. He had Kuro shift his focus from financial disruption to psychological warfare, targeting the Red Hand's recruitment channels with counter-propaganda.
His final order was for himself.
"Get me a location on Tariq Al-Amir," he said to Anya. "His most secure, most private location. The place he goes when he believes he is untouchable."
Anya raised an eyebrow. "You intend to face him alone?"
"An idea can't be killed by an army," Renji said, his eyes like chips of flint. "But the man who created it can be. Tanaka needed to see the future. Al-Amir needs to see a ghost."
The Syndicate's expansion was entering a new, more violent phase. The quiet absorption of power was over. Now, Renji had to remind the world that behind the silent, efficient network was a killer who had once dismantled W.A.O.'s finest with his bare hands.