Chapter 4 - The Paper Trail
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At 1:30 AM, Lennox pulled her sedan into the alley behind an old brick brownstone on the West Side of Chicago.
She walked up the rusted fire escape and knocked four times on the third-floor window.
The glass slid open, revealing a tired man in his fifties with wire-rimmed glasses and a thick grey beard. Julian Vance was a disgraced former federal prosecutor whom Lennox had saved from Paxton’s enforcers three years ago by erasing his name from a mob ledger.
"Lennox?" Julian blinked in surprise, opening the window wider. "What happened to your face?"
"Paxton reminded me who he was," Lennox said quietly, stepping inside the cluttered, paper-filled room. "And I reminded him who I am."
She reached into her wool coat and pulled out the encrypted USB drive, placing it on his desk beside a half-empty cup of coffee.
"What is this?" Julian asked, staring at the small drive.
"It’s Paxton Greer’s obituary," Lennox said, sitting down in an old leather chair. "Every bribe paid to Alderman Caine, every illegal dock lease in Detroit, every wire transfer signed by Delgado over the last thirty-six months. It’s formatted, cross-referenced, and ready for federal indictment."
Julian picked up the drive, holding it like a piece of live ordinance.
"If I turn this over to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Paxton will know it came from you," Julian warned. "He’ll send every gun in the Midwest after you."
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Lennox wiped a trace of dried blood from the corner of her lip and looked Julian dead in the eye.
"Paxton won't have enough money left to pay his parking meters by morning, Julian," she said softly. "Send the file."
