Darkness's Arc

Chapter 5 of 10

Darkness stays at the radio tower, waiting in the shadows where the rusted platform meets the support beams. The routing schedule lies spread across the metal grating, visible to anyone who climbs up. 12:15 AM comes, and with it, footsteps on the ladder below. A man reaches the platform and freezes when he sees the exposed papers. He's older, moving carefully, and he carries a reflective construction sign under one arm — the kind that would explain why someone might be checking an abandoned tower at night. But his other hand goes straight to his jacket pocket, pulling out a phone with a cracked screen. Darkness watches him thumb the battery compartment open and remove a burner SIM card, his movements practiced and quick. This is W.G., and he's been here before. Darkness steps from the shadows before he can make the call. He drops the phone, and it skitters across the platform toward the painted metal drum with the upward arrow — the marker where he was supposed to make contact. His fear is immediate and specific. He knows what she is. He raises both hands and says the hunter promised him protection if he kept feeding information about the others. Names, schedules, locations. He thought if he helped them first, they wouldn't come for him. Darkness doesn't speak. She picks up the phone and crushes it under her heel, the burner SIM snapping in half. W.G. is shaking now, realizing the protection he bought was always temporary. The hunter used him to track Nyx and the others, but his scheduled contact was just another entry in the ledger — another target timed in sequence. Darkness leaves him on the platform with the exposed routing schedule and his broken excuse. He's no longer useful to the hunter, and he knows it. The network just lost its informant, and now the hunter has to operate blind.