Mateo leads them out through a staff corridor and into the city’s service roads. Jessie keeps pace beside Urbie, her red suitcase abandoned at the terminal, while Mateo checks every intersection before crossing.
Jessie
You said forty minutes. How much time is left?
Mateo Rivas
Less than thirty. I took the long way because Carlos has watchers near the main streets.
He cuts beneath an elevated roadway, past shuttered loading bays and pools of sodium light. No one follows openly, but Mateo’s tattooed wrist stays near his coat as he studies parked cars.
Jessie
And the shipment? You said stopping it hurts Carlos.
Mateo Rivas
The shipment is bait. Carlos wants every rival looking at the drugs. Find what he is protecting, and you find the operation that matters.
The Golden Wing rises ahead in violet and gold neon. Dealers cluster beneath the awning, dancers enter through a side door, and armed security watches the busy entrance with practiced stillness.
Mateo Rivas
That is the front. We get close without looking like we are hunting it, then you decide what happens next.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the shipment's true target
“I have just one question. Why are you telling me this?”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +2)
Urbie
I have just one question. Why are you telling me this?
Mateo slows beneath the Golden Wing’s violet sign. Dealers linger under the awning, dancers slip through the side door, and security guards scan the street without interrupting.
Mateo Rivas
Because Carlos ordered me to bring you into a kill box. I decided I would rather see him lose than die for him.
He draws a small key from his coat but keeps it between two fingers, visible rather than offered. Jessie watches his hands, then the guarded entrance.
Mateo Rivas
The shipment is cover. Carlos keeps the real records in the club office, inside a locked black case. The case names his buyers, routes, and the captain running tonight’s move.
Urbie
He is offering a reason, a target, and a way inside.
Jessie
And that key opens the office?
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the cartel records
− Scene Quest Removed
Identify the shipment's true target
“So to me at least, it seems that if you are offering me this intel, then it's because you have a way out of this mess without being beheaded by the cartel for being a traitor, right?”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +1)
Urbie
So, to me at least, it seems that if you are offering this intel, you have a way out before the cartel beheads you for being a traitor, right?
Mateo Rivas
I do. There is a service exit behind the office, and I have a car waiting two blocks south. Once the case is in your hands, I disappear before Carlos knows I am gone.
Mateo turns the key once between his fingers, then points toward a narrow alley beside the club. The dealers under the awning laugh too loudly while security watches the curb.
Jessie
You already arranged a car? That sounds less like improvisation and more like you have been planning to run.
Mateo Rivas
I have been planning it since Carlos ordered my death. He trusts the captain running tonight's move, not me. The case proves who gets paid to replace him.
A security guard steps away from the entrance and scans the alley mouth. Mateo closes his hand around the key, his escape route now concrete: office, black case, rear exit, waiting car.
Director's note
I begin scanning the alleyway and the guards watching it to find the best moment to slip in.
“Got it. Give me the key, I'll take care of it. Jessie please go wait in my car, I'll be back.”
SUCCESS (Superb Streetwise, rolled -2)
Urbie
Got it. Give me the key. I’ll take care of it. Jessie, please go wait in my car. I’ll be back.
Mateo Rivas
Then take it. The office is through the service corridor, second door past the storeroom.
Mateo places the key in Urbie’s palm. Jessie hesitates only long enough to meet his eyes, then heads toward the parked car, leaving the red glow of the club behind.
Jessie
I’ll keep the engine ready. If you’re not back soon, I’m calling for help.
Urbie studies the alley instead of moving. Five dealers crowd the awning, dancers pass through the side door, and four armed guards divide their attention between traffic and the entrance.
Urbie
The guards rotate their attention every few seconds, but the entrance guard watches the alley mouth longest.
The pattern gives Urbie a workable opening, but costs precious time to confirm. Mateo remains beside the sign, ready to draw attention away when the next guard turns.
+ New Item Acquired
Office key
“I nod at Mateo letting him know to make a distraction, and slip in when the opening is made.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Stealth, rolled +1)
Urbie gives Mateo a small nod. Mateo catches it, shifts beneath the neon, and turns toward the dealers with sudden irritation, drawing their attention away from the alley.
Mateo Rivas
You want to complain, complain to the captain. I am done covering his mistakes.
The dealers pivot toward Mateo. Two guards follow the movement, while the entrance guard turns from the alley to assess the argument. Dancers continue through the side door.
Urbie crosses the opening without a sound, keeping to the wall and passing behind the momentary blind spot. No head turns. The service door yields under his hand.
Inside, music and neon collapse into a muffled pulse behind him. He slips into the service corridor, where painted concrete, stacked crates, and a dim security bulb lead deeper into the club.
Urbie
The corridor is clear.
The office door waits second past the storeroom, exactly as Mateo described. Urbie reaches it with the key ready, concealed from the noise and eyes outside.
“I keep pressure on the door to quiet the key turning and unlocking it. then slip inside with a hand on my knife.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Stealth, rolled -1)
Urbie braces his shoulder against the office door, muting the key’s turn beneath the corridor’s low mechanical hum. The lock clicks softly, and the door opens inward.
He slips through sideways with one hand resting on his knife, then eases the door nearly shut behind him. Neon from the corridor cuts a thin violet line across the floor.
Urbie
The office is empty.
A desk faces a darkened monitor, its surface crowded with invoices, burner phones, and a black case secured by a compact latch. Filing cabinets line the far wall.
The muffled club music pulses through the concrete, but no footsteps approach. Urbie crosses to the desk without disturbing the papers and sets his attention on the case.
The office key fits the case’s lock. With a controlled twist, the latch releases, revealing neatly stacked records, route maps, and a handwritten payment ledger beneath them.
“I take out my phone and snap some pictures of the files then close the case and take it with me towards the back exit.”
FAILURE (Superb Investigation, rolled -3)
Urbie reaches for his phone, then finds only the empty pocket where he expected it. The office offers no safe pause to search further, and the files remain unphotographed.
Urbie
My phone is not here.
He closes the black case over the records and locks it with the office key. The compact case fits firmly in one hand, heavier with consequences than its size suggests.
Urbie checks the desk once more without touching the scattered invoices or burner phones. Nothing substitutes for the missing photographs, and leaving the case behind would surrender the only complete record.
He moves toward the rear service exit, keeping the case close and his knife hand free. The muffled music continues through the walls, steady enough to conceal his controlled footsteps.
At the corridor threshold, Urbie pauses beside the nearly closed office door and listens. The route toward the waiting car remains open, but the evidence can no longer be duplicated here.
Quest Complete
Secure the cartel records
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Fair→Good
+ New Item Acquired
Black case