By the time he finished talking, the lantern had burned a little lower and my patience had done the same.
The cramped office felt smaller with every word he added. The map on the wall might as well have been a set of crosshairs.
I sat back in the chair and let the last part of Rourke's explanation settle.
"So," I said, "to recap. Your daughter is in the middle of a faction problem, you are in the middle of a said problem, and now I am in the middle of both."
Rourke rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "That is the short version, yes."
Cadence had taken up a position at my shoulder, hologram faint in the lantern light. "His long version was unnecessarily dramatic," she said. "However, the data is clear."
I looked at her. "Then you can summarise. Quietly. Before my brain strikes."
She nodded. "Summary. Rourke controls the generators that power a large portion of Tollhaven's poorer districts. The Black Thorns want that power. The Iron Jackals want that power. Both prefer him alive, for now, because dead men do not maintain infrastructure."
Rourke made a small, humourless sound. "Flattering."
Cadence continued. "The Black Thorns took Selene as leverage. The Jackals are applying economic pressure. If he gives in to either, the other will eventually gut him. Metaphorically first, physically later."
I tapped my fingers on the table. "And Selene is the first piece on the board."
Rourke nodded. "She should never have been near them. She knows better. But she is… stubborn."
"I know someone like that," Cadence said.
I ignored that.
"Why not pay them off?" I asked. "Give the Thorns some share of power. Give the Jackals a contract. Play both sides until they get bored and kill each other."
Rourke shook his head. "Once they have a hand on the switch, I am finished. They will push until I break. I have one advantage left. They need me. They do not know yet how many redundancies I built in.
Cadence tilted her head. "His paranoia has been productive."
"Thank you," Rourke said dryly.
I stared at the map on the wall. Three red circles clustered around a block near the southern edge. Narrow streets. Storage units. Old pipe runs.
"That is where she is?" I asked.
He stood and moved closer to the map, tapping one of the circles. "Here. This block. Used to be cold storage before the collapse. The Thorns gutted half of it and turned the rest into a small camp. Not their main base, just a holding spot. It is off the main routes, which is both good and bad for you."
Cadence walked closer to the map as if she could touch it. "Good because fewer witnesses. Bad because fewer ways out."
"Exactly," Rourke said.
I stood too, joining them.
"Guards?" I asked.
"Rotating," Rourke said. "Usually four inside. Two outside. Sometimes more if they are holding other assets. I have not seen heavy ordnance there. Mostly knives, old rifles, one or two cheap augments."
Cadence glanced back at me. "Your current strength and speed are numerically superior. Your stealth score remains theoretical."
"Helpful," I said.
"Always."
Rourke turned to face me fully. "You go in quiet. You get Selene. You do not engage the Thorns unless there is no choice. If they realise she is gone, they will search every corner of the district and then they will come here. That cannot happen I need to remain neutral."
Cadence frowned. "You have not told Iris the full consequence if they trace it back to you."
Rourke's jaw clenched. "They won't kill me. They will use me to power selective districts, raise the prices. Whole quarters of this city would go dark, permanently. The Jackals would move in. There would be riots. Looting. Collapse."
"So no pressure," I said.
"Correct," Cadence said.
Rourke stepped closer. "I am not trying to guilt you. You wanted a chip. I am offering one. This is the price. I want my daughter safe. The city needs my generators. You need an identity. Clean and off the books. We can all get something out of this."
Cadence made a quiet considering sound. "On a purely transactional level, the deal remains advantageous. One extraction, one chip with loaded credit.
I watched him for a moment. The tired eyes. The tight mouth. The way his hand curled whenever he said Selene's name.
"Any reason you have not told the Jackals that you want her back?" I said.
His face hardened. "I do not want them anywhere near her. They talk about protection. They mean ownership. They treat people as assets. They would turn her into leverage again in two months."
Cadence nodded slowly. "He is not lying."
I lifted an eyebrow at her. "You can tell?"
"I can tell he believes it," she said. "That is enough."
Rourke moved back to the table and pulled a small metal object from his pocket. It looked like a coin someone had flattened and stabbed.
He slid it toward me. "This is a one use jammer. Short range. Push the center and it will scramble comms and short cheap weapons in about a ten metre radius for three to five seconds. Use it only if you are in real trouble. Thorns use junk tech. It will hurt them more than you."
I picked it up. It was heavier than it looked.
"Three to five seconds?" I said. "Very generous."
"You will be surprised what you can do with three seconds," Cadence said quietly.
Rourke watched my hand close around the jammer. "I am taking a risk trusting you with that. If you decide to disappear instead of coming back, there is nothing I can do to stop you."
"You have been listening to me talk," I said. "Does that sound like my style?"
"It sounds like you would do something more complicated," he said.
Cadence nodded. "He is learning."
I slipped the jammer into an inner pocket. "Alright. I get in. I get Selene. I get out. No one sees you. No one connects us."
"Exactly," Rourke said.
"And the chip?" I asked.
He pulled a slim case from inside his coat. Inside lay a small, rectangular wafer. Metallic. Too clean for this room.
"I had this prepared before I approached you," he said. "Blank ID. No prior history. When you return, I register it to you and load it with credits. New life. New name if you want it. The system will treat you as if you always existed."
"Terrifying," Cadence said. "And impressive."
I shut the case and slid it back to him. "Hold on to it. I do not want to carry promises I have not earned."
Rourke's mouth twitched into something that might have been respect. "Fair enough."
Cadence shifted closer, voice dropping. "Iris. One question remains."
"Only one?"
"For now."
She looked up at me. "What is your line?"
"Explain," I said.
"You insisted on no killing if possible," she said. "You were angry when I eliminated the Vulture. This mission changes that context. If the Thorns decide to kill Selene or raise the alarm, how far are you willing to go?"
Rourke stiffened.
I took a breath. The air in the room tasted like oil and old paper.
"If they force my hand," I said slowly, "I will do what I have to do. But I am not going in there to start a war."
Cadence nodded. "Acceptable."
Rourke let out a breath he had been holding. "Then we have an understanding."
I stepped away from the table. My muscles felt too awake, that thin edge between readiness and nerves.
"Time?" I asked.
Cadence flickered, checking feeds I could not see. "Black Thorn patrol pattern suggests a quieter period approximately 20 minutes from now. You can reach the block in fifteen if you move with purpose and do not stop to antagonise anyone."
"I never antagonise people," I said.
She stared at me.
"Intentionally," I added.
"Better," she said.
Rourke moved to the door and opened it. The hallway outside looked narrower than before.
"One last thing," he said.
I paused.
"If anything goes wrong," he said quietly, "do not die for this. I want my daughter back. But I am not asking you to choose her life over yours."
Cadence studied him. "That was an honest statement."
I shrugged. "Good news for both of you. I am not planning on dying either way."
"Optimistic," Cadence said. "Statistically fragile, but optimistic."
I stepped into the hallway.
Rourke stayed in the doorway, one hand on the frame. "I will be here when you get back."
I nodded once and headed toward the stairs.
The Bitter Gear's sounds grew louder as I descended. Laughter. Metal. Someone arguing about debt. Someone else arguing about whose knife that was and why it was it in the wall.
At the bottom, I paused by the door.
"You ready?" I asked.
Cadence appeared at my side. "No. But you are going anyway."
"Consistent pattern," I said.
"Deeply."
I tugged my hood up, checked the weight of the jammer, flexed my fingers once just to feel the hum of the new power core steady under my ribs.
"Alright," I murmured. "Let us go steal a girl from a gang without starting an entire civil war."
"Ambitious goal," Cadence said.
"Ambition is all we have."