Adventure of Dallas Fontaine 2

The freight car hangs open like a confession. Inside the crate sit Harbor Unit dossiers, not museum records, tied with red tape and stamped for internal transfer.

Murderbone plants himself at the crate, teeth bared, while Elena Vane steps to the side door and scans the bay for a second exit. The red emergency light turns everyone into suspects.

One staffer glances at the elevator panel, then at Dallas’s revolver. That tiny hesitation gives the game away. The trail runs through Harbor Unit hands, and straight into the museum’s back rooms.

Dallas closes in on the crate as the freight doors begin to creep wider, exposing the routing slip clipped beneath the dossiers.

Dallas snatches the routing slip free as the elevator doors yaw wider, keeping the paper out of the crate and out of their reach.

Elena moves in at once, cutting off the taller staffer before he can bolt. Murderbone crowds the shorter one back against the stacked crates, all teeth and weight.

Elena’s hand flashes over the taller man’s jacket and trouser pockets, finding a duplicate route slip, a crumpled museum evidence tag, and a service key clipped inside his coat.

The shorter staffer pales when the second slip comes free, because it matches the one Dallas has already taken.

The elevator light hums over the open crate, the dossiers still visible, while both men freeze under the red emergency glow and wait for Dallas to decide who talks first.