The warehouse office had been cleared for the meeting. The small city map was spread wide across the table, red pins marking routes that snaked from the capital to the Slum's docks. Beside it stood a whiteboard, already scrawled with notes and times.
Marcus stood at the head of the table, sleeves rolled, a marker in hand. The rest of the crew, Eli, Tasha, Brick, Jin, leaned casually against crates or chairs, but their attention was fixed on him.
"Alright," Marcus began, voice low but carrying. "Before we start, let's welcome Nikolai. He'll be joining us on this next job."
A few nods. Eli raised a hand lazily, Tasha flashed a sly grin, Brick just gave a small grunt.
Marcus tapped the map with the marker. "We've got two trucks coming out of the capital, one real, one decoy. Same play they've been running for a while now. They'll hit the highway, break at this service stop here, then cut across Route 17 before splitting closer to the city. The decoy always keeps more visible guards, but the real load's disguised and usually has a quiet escort trailing behind."
He drew a clean line across one of the highlighted routes. "Our window is when they move through this industrial stretch here. Fewer cameras, fewer cops. It's the cleanest shot before they reach their warehouse."
Marcus's eyes scanned the group. "We'll use two intercept teams. First, distraction and slow-down. Second, snatch and transfer."
He started pointing people out.
"Eli, you and Brick take the lead on the road. Eli, you drive the rammer, Brick rides shotgun and handles anyone who gets stupid. Force the convoy to stop."
Eli grinned and cracked his knuckles. Brick just nodded once.
"Tasha, you're on vehicle entry. Once the trucks are stopped, you break into the real one fast. Get eyes on the cargo and prep for transfer."
"Easy," she said, tossing her braid back.
"Jin, you're control and comms. You'll be running signal jammers to cut their trackers and comms. You'll also have a drone overhead to monitor movement and tell us if any backup's coming."
Jin nodded, quiet but confident.
Marcus turned his attention to Nikolai at last. "And you, you'll run support and overwatch."
Nikolai raised an eyebrow slightly.
"You'll ride with Eli and Brick on the push," Marcus explained. "Once the trucks are stopped, you help Tasha with the swap if needed, or back Brick if the escorts get aggressive. You don't have to lead, but stay sharp and fill the gap. If things break down, you're our floater, driver, gun, or extra hands."
It was the kind of role you gave someone new: flexible but important if things turned bad.
Marcus capped the marker and set it down. "Questions?"
Nikolai scanned the map again, committing the plan to memory. He didn't speak yet, just studying the times and routes. The layout made sense, two intercept points, tight control of comms, a driver good enough to box trucks in. It was solid.
He finally said, "What about police response?"
"Already covered," Marcus replied. "Jin'll loop the local feeds. If sirens light up, we'll know before they're close."
"And the convoy escort?" Nikolai asked.
"Usually two chase SUVs, maybe three. Not military, just hired muscle. Brick can handle them. You back him up if it gets heavy."
Nikolai nodded slowly. It was clean enough. Risky, but clean.
Marcus leaned on the table, looking around the room. "We keep it simple. Fast in, fast out. Minimal noise if possible, but if they push back, we push harder. Everyone clear?"
A round of short replies, "clear," "yeah," a grunt from Brick.
Marcus looked to Nikolai one last time. "You good?"
"I'm good," Nikolai said evenly, though his mind was already tweaking and testing parts of the plan.
Marcus smirked faintly, then slapped the marker against the table. "Then gear up. We move tomorrow night."
Eli drifted over to where Marcus was checking the map alone. He leaned against a crate, arms crossed.
"Hey, boss…" Eli's tone was quiet but edged with curiosity. "Couldn't help noticing, this plan's a bit more… complicated than usual. And you're tailing the decoy alone?"
Marcus didn't look up right away, just kept scanning the notes before him. "Yeah?"
"Plus…" Eli hesitated, then shrugged. "No disrespect, but I don't trust this Nikolai guy."
Marcus finally glanced over, expression flat but thoughtful. "I don't either. But for now, we put that aside."
He tapped the edge of the map with a finger. "The plan's Moreno's draft. His shipment, his rules. We just adjust where we need to and get paid. And he's paying enough to look past the details."
Eli frowned slightly. "You think we can rely on him?"
"No," Marcus said simply. "Don't rely on Nikolai too much. Keep him in line, see what he's good for, but watch him. We work our way, same as always."
Eli exhaled through his nose, nodding slowly. "Alright. Just checking."
Marcus gave a small grunt, then went back to his notes, the conversation closed.
Nikolai, who'd just been chatting with Tasha, finally sat down and leaned back in the chair.
The plan was good. Solid even. But there was something about it that felt off, shaped in a way he couldn't quite name.
For one, as much as everyone trusted Jin's tech and scouting, how sure were they that the truck he'd tag as real would actually be the real one?
Nikolai stayed quiet, eyes on the map but mind running elsewhere. This could just be Moreno's influence too, the man clearly had his own ways of doing things and didn't strike him as someone who shared everything with the hired help.
Either way, Nikolai pushed the doubt aside. He still believed he'd succeed.
He understood what this really was. Moreno's eyes were on him, and this job was as much a test as it was work.
Marcus had almost certainly been told the situation, maybe not the whole story, but enough to watch him closely.
So even if this was supposed to be teamwork, Nikolai knew better. He'd have to look out for himself first. Trust was earned slowly, and until then, survival came before everything else.
After all, it wasn't their lives on the line, not the way it was his. If things went wrong, they'd cut losses and bail; he was the one being measured.
That meant he couldn't just rely on the plan or the team. He had to be sharper, faster, and ready to adapt.