Karina narrowed her eyes. "You're offering to help me?"
"I'm offering you a chance," Loyce said smoothly. "Whether you can seize it is entirely up to you."
"What do you want in return?"
"Nothing at all. I just want to set Giselle free."
Karina remained silent. The temptation was too great. She finally nodded, then asked, "That shipment of weapons is worth hundreds of millions. You actually packed them in glass cases? If you mixed in fakes, they'll find out instantly."
Loyce smiled with quiet confidence. "Don't underestimate Harmony Country engineering. That glass is blast-resistant. If anyone could just pry open X's crates, my syndicate wouldn't have the reputation it does."
The Colombo family ambushed the wharf that night, successfully hijacking the Costa shipment. The entire syndicate erupted in celebration, everyone salivating over the deadly hardware visible through the transparent cases.
Karina stood off to the side, eyes filled with doubt.
A massive enforcer grabbed a sledgehammer and swung it viciously at one of the glass crates. The impact sent a painful shockwave up his arms, but didn't leave a single scratch on the surface. Worse, the forced entry triggered the crate's defense protocol, snapping thick steel bars shut around it.
The cheering immediately died down.
Refusing to believe it, the enforcer swung twice more with all his might. The crate bore only the faintest of marks.
Salvar was stunned. "This thing is indestructible? Do we have to blow it open?"
"Who's crazy enough to use explosives? If we damage the weapons inside, our men bled for nothing," another member argued. "There has to be another way."
The Godfather spoke up. "A password. Word on the street is that X's weapons can only be unlocked with a code. Try to force it with explosives, and you'll trigger the self-destruct sequence."
But who knew the code?
Every eye in the room turned to Karina.
Salvar wrapped an arm around her waist. "Baby, you're the only one who can get that password for us."
Karina feigned outrage. "You want me to go back now? That's suicide! Hank already knows there's a mole. The risk is way too high."
She flatly refused. But the Colombos weren't about to give up the prize. Salvar scratched his head. "X's gear is the most valuable merchandise on the black market. A shipment this size could be worth hundreds of millions. The Costas probably blew half their treasury on this just to run us out of business and secure the legal distribution rights for the hallucinogenic mushrooms!"
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