The building looked abandoned, but it didn't feel empty.
Sarai noticed it first.
Not something obvious. Nothing she could point to and say that's wrong. It was more like the air didn't sit right. Too still in some places, too disturbed in others. Like something had already moved through here and decided to wait.
She slowed slightly as they stepped inside, her eyes moving across the space.
"Tell me you feel that," she said quietly.
Virek didn't answer right away. His gaze moved across the upper levels, then the corners, then the open floor ahead of them.
"I do," he said.
That was enough.
Dust coated most of the surfaces, but not evenly. There were faint disruptions—subtle enough that someone rushing wouldn't catch them, but consistent enough to mean something.
Sarai stepped forward carefully, her voice lower now.
"This isn't random," she said. "It's arranged."
Virek glanced at her briefly. "Explain."
She gestured toward the floor near a support column. "Foot traffic patterns are wrong. Too clean in some areas, too messy in others. Someone moved through here deliberately."
She took another step, slower this time.
"And they expected us to follow a path."
That made his posture shift.
Not visibly dramatic, but enough that the air around him tightened.
"Then we don't follow it," he said.
A sound cut through the space.
Metal scraping somewhere above.
Not loud.
Not accidental.
Sarai's head tilted slightly as she listened.
"That wasn't settling," she said.
"No."
Another sound.
Closer.
Then—
movement.
Men dropped from the upper level almost in sync, boots hitting the ground with heavy impact. Others moved in from the sides, weapons raised but not firing immediately.
That was the first sign this wasn't a normal ambush.
They weren't rushing.
They were watching.
Sarai's pulse kicked up, but her voice stayed controlled.
"…they're not trying to take us out right away," she said.
Virek didn't take his eyes off them.
"They're waiting," he said.
"For what?" she asked.
That's when the truck hit.
The crash tore through the side of the building, concrete exploding inward as metal screamed against steel beams. Dust filled the air instantly, vision dropping to almost nothing.
Sarai stumbled back, coughing as debris scattered across the floor.
"What the hell—"
Virek grabbed her arm, pulling her behind a partial wall just as gunfire finally started.
Not random.
Directed.
Measured.
"They're controlling the space," Sarai said quickly, forcing herself to think through the chaos. "They want us moving where they want us."
Virek's grip tightened slightly.
"…yeah," he said.
And for the first time—
something about this felt deliberate in a way that wasn't just tactical.
This wasn't just an ambush.
Someone was watching how they responded.