Adventure of Ki Akio 1

Ki Akio reaches the rusted freight stairs at Sable Quay, where sodium lights bleed through drizzle and the whole dock smells of oil, salt, and hot metal. The freight block rises ahead, half swallowed by fog and stacked service pipes.

Below the stairs, a side alley opens into a luxury brothel lobby annex, glass-dark and plush in all the wrong ways. Through the smeared window, tapping fingers stop, then start again, somewhere inside the building.

Marek stays close, shoulders tight, the decoy scrap hidden in his hand like it might burn him. He keeps glancing at the upper landing, scanning for Juno and for whatever shadow is trailing them.

Juno emerges from the freight stairs shadow, one hand on a handheld scanner, the other braced against the rail. The screen throws cold green light across her face as it pings at the case latch in Ki Akio's grip.