CHAPTER 28: CHAPTER 28

Ace leaned against Evelyn’s closed apartment door, the small SD card held out like a dangerous secret between them. The dim light from her desk lamp glinted off its plastic surface. Evelyn’s eyes widened locking into the SD card and then snapped back to his face. The usual sarcastic quirk of her lips was gone, replaced by intense focus.

"You recorded Deke?" she breathed, her voice barely a whisper, she was conscious of Mrs. Gable next door. "At Silva’s place? And he talked about Ramos?"

"I’ve recorded every word he said," Ace confirmed, his voice low and rough from the adrenaline and exhaustion. He pushed off the door and stepped further into the small, neat space. "He demanded three hundred tonight, he threatened to break Silva’s bottles. Then he threatened him directly, he said next week it would be three hundred twenty five, he was calling it protection money... and said he needed it for Ramos because Ramos is squeezing him."

He placed the card gently on the edge of her cluttered desk, right next to a stack of medical textbooks.

He said "It’s all there, every ugly detail laid bare raw and undeniable" his voice steady but heavy with the weight of what he had captured. "No room for lies or excuses. The threats, the extortion, the way he drags Ramos’s name through the mud like a weapon—it’s all on that recording. This isn’t just proof; it’s a loaded gun aimed straight at Deke’s throat."

Evelyn moved swiftly, scooping up the small SD card from the desk. Her fingers were steady, but Ace could see the rapid pulse beating in her neck. She crossed to her laptop, already open and humming softly on the desk. She inserted the tiny card into a reader slot. "Let’s see what that bastard’s really saying."

Ace didn’t say a word. Instead, he sank heavily into the worn armchair she’d just vacated. The springs groaned softly under his weight. The weight of the night bore down on him all at once the claustrophobic tension of hiding in the storage closet, the near disaster with Deke and the fragile hope held in this small plastic card. Now that he was somewhere relatively safe, exhaustion pulled at his bones like an anchor.

Evelyn’s fingers moved with quiet efficiency as she clicked a few times. Her brow furrowed in concentration. Then the apartment filled with the faint, tinny sounds of the Rusty Anchor bar came into the apartment—the faint hum of the jukebox in the background, Silva’s nervous shuffling footsteps near the vent, and then Deke’s rough, impatient voice cutting through it all like a knife through fog.

"Well? Quit starin’ like a landed fish, Silva. Where’s my three hundred? Ramos ain’t got time to wait, and neither do I..."

Evelyn listened intently, her expression hardening with each threatening word Deke uttered. She didn’t flinch at the bottle threat or the mention of Ramos sending worse enforcers. Her jaw tightened when Deke demanded the increased payment. She let it play through the entire confrontation, including the terrifying moment Deke paused, sensing something was off, and Silva’s desperate deflection. Only when the front door slammed shut on the recording did she finally hit pause. The sudden silence felt thick and charged.

She swiveled slowly in her desk chair to face Ace. Her eyes were dark pools of fury and calculation. "You were right there," she stated, not asking. "In that closet. When he stopped... when he asked if Silva was alone... you were inches away."

Ace didn’t answer with words. He just gave a tired nod, the exhaustion pulling at his limbs too hard for him to speak. His hand rose automatically to rub over his face, wiping away the grit and dust that still clung to his skin from the cramped storage closet where he’d hidden. The stale, claustrophobic smell seemed to linger on him still.

"It’s perfect" Evelyn said, her voice low and fierce. "This is exactly what we needed." She tapped the edge of her laptop with a deliberate click, her eyes fixed on him. "He is mentioning Ramos by name. He calls it ’protection money.’ He admits owing a debt. He is openly threatening violence." Her gaze hardened. "This isn’t just proof for the cops. This is a grenade for Victor Ramos."

"That’s the plan," Ace said, forcing himself to sit up straighter despite the fatigue. "Silva also agrees to it. We will hit Deke where he’s weakest – his debt. Ramos needs to hear this. He needs to know Deke’s shaking down small businesses for extra cash instead of paying him back. He needs to hear Deke using his name to terrorize people."

Evelyn was already nodding, her eyes sharp and focused as her mind raced ahead through the possibilities. "Ramos won’t tolerate this" she said firmly, her voice low but edged with conviction. "He’ll see it as Deke skimming, stealing what rightfully belongs to him. That’s the real insult. He would see it as disrespect. It undermines Ramos’s authority, and that’s something he never lets slide."

A confident smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. She tapped a few keys and turned back to her laptop, her fingers flying across the keyboard with practiced speed. "The delivery must be completely anonymous and untraceable. It needs to be fully digital, using no account or device that could be traced back to us or this apartment." Her voice was steady yet intense as she laid out the stakes.

"I’ve been digging deeper into Ramos’s operations since we last talked. He’s old-school, paranoid but he has people who handle his communications: burner phones, encrypted emails sent through several layers of proxies and anonymous drop points. He knows how valuable privacy is when it works in his favor." Her voice stayed calm, but every word held weight.

Ace watched her work. He felt a strange sense of relief mixing with the exhaustion. Seeing her so focused and capable helped ground him. He spoke, his voice was quiet but earnest. "Can you get it to him? Safely?"

She glanced up for a moment, still typing rapidly. "Not directly to Ramos himself," she said choosing her words carefully, "but to one of his known and trusted intermediaries. Someone who regularly checks messages at a secret digital drop off point. The kind of drop that’ll get the message moving up the chain quickly because the content is explosive."

She pulled up a complex map on her screen, showing tangles of network connections and anonymous server routes. "I can remove all the metadata from the audio file." she explained. "That way, no one can tell where it was recorded or edited. There won’t be any digital trails leading back to us."

She paused then laid out her plan in clear, simple terms "We’ll attach the audio to a short text: ’Deke Vance is using your name to extort local businesses. He takes the money, but you are getting nothing.’ No accusations, no demands just the facts. From there, Ramos can draw his own conclusions."

Evelyn looked steadily at Ace before speaking. "We can’t let Deke think this escaped him," she said in a calm but firm voice. "We need to leak just enough information to show that Ramos has received something. We want him to feel the heat, to question everything."

Ace nodded without hesitation. "Silva can be our voice on the ground," he said. "Next time Deke shows up, Silva should drop a vague but frightening hint something like ’I’ve heard Ramos has been asking about his money lately.’ Then we let Deke’s own fears fill in the blanks."

Evelyn’s eyes shone with approval. "Perfect. We’re going for psychological pressure. Fear is a powerful weapon."

Ace exhaled slowly. The plan taking shape between them was dangerous but it was also promising."

She pointed to the highlighted route on her screen and explained, "This is the path the message will follow. It jumps through servers in countries that don’t cooperate with our local law enforcement. That makes it a digital ghost—totally untraceable. The package and the recording won’t simply disappear. Instead, they’ll appear out of nowhere in a secure inbox that Ramos’s technology specialist checks every single day."

Evelyn’s voice dropped, heavy with meaning. "By tomorrow morning, Victor Ramos will hear Deke’s own voice giving him away. There’ll be no denying it."

Evelyn turned to Ace, her face was serious, the weight of their decision clear in her expression. "Once I send this, there’s no going back," she said. "Ramos acts quickly and ruthlessly. Deke could be in real danger within days or even hours." She met his eyes, her gaze intense. "And if Deke starts thinking Silva talked... or worse, if he suspects you..."

Ace interrupted her, his voice sharp with bitterness but firm. "He already suspects everyone." The cold reality settled over him, the pressure of the looming deadline pressing harder. "But we don’t have a choice. This is the quickest way to force his hand to make him back off or better yet, to make Ramos deal with the problem for us." He met her steady gaze. "Do it."

Evelyn stared at him in silence, measuring the weight of those simple words. Then she nodded firmly. "Okay."

Her fingers moved swiftly over the keyboard with finality and precision. A series of windows popped up and disappeared progress bars flicked across the screen, confirmation messages blinked into existence and faded just as fast. With clinical efficiency, she executed a final command that wiped all temporary files and erased their browser histories like smoke in the wind.

The screen blinked back to her usual desktop wallpaper as the last traces vanished.

"Done" she said softly, her voice steady. "The package is on its way to Victor Ramos."

Evelyn removed the SD card and handed it to Ace, her gaze locked on his. "Keep this safe. It’s the original, it will be for backup if things go wrong."

Ace accepted the SD card from Evelyn. Though small and light, it felt much heavier, as if it bore the weight of everything that had just happened and everything that was about to come.

He slipped it into his secure pocket, his fingers brushing its edge for a moment. The deed was done. The trap was set. And now, the stakes were higher than ever before.

Silence filled the small apartment, broken only by the soft hum of Evelyn’s idle laptop. The weight of what they’d unleashed was almost suffocating.

Through the window, the quiet sounds of the Nite Owl Motel drifted in footsteps, late arrivals murmuring, and occasional cars pulling in. Outside, the night seemed peaceful. Inside every second was tense.

Ace pushed himself slowly to his feet, every movement weighted by exhaustion that burrowed deep into his bones. He ran a hand through his hair, voice thick with fatigue as he said "I need to get some rest because tomorrow..." He left the sentence hanging, full of uncertainty and anticipation. "Tomorrow, we will see what happens."

Evelyn rose as well, her eyes sharp and steady despite the night’s strain. She stepped to the door and unlocked it quietly, peering out into the dimly lit motel walkway with practiced caution. Her voice was low but serious. "Ace, be very careful. Deke’s cornered now and cornered rats are the most dangerous ones. Get rest. You’ll need it."

Ace nodded, gratitude and resolve shining through his tired eyes. Without another word, he stepped into the cool night. The chill on his skin was a reminder that tonight was anything but ordinary.

He paused at Evelyn’s door and gave her a brief, silent nod of thanks. Then he headed to his own room, Unit 7.

As he walked the short distance, the quiet of the motel felt charged, electric with expectation. Somewhere out there in the city, unseen but deadly, a digital package containing Deke’s downfall was racing toward a dangerous man. The game had just escalated. The stakes were higher. The rules were harsher.

Ace unlocked his door and stepped inside the sparse, dimly lit room. He leaned back against the door, closing his eyes and listening to the sudden silence, it was the oppressive stillness that came before the storm.