Unmarked Package
The package arrived at one of Kasper's safehouses—not the main one, but a secondary location only the Association should have known about. No markings, no return address, just a nondescript box with a weight that suggested something more substantial than paperwork.
Kasper circled it twice, scanning for tripwires or pressure plates. Finding none, he carefully cut through the sealing tape with the edge of his knife.
Inside, nested in black foam, lay an enhancement module he didn't recognize—sleeker than standard Association tech, with distinctive gold connectors that weren't military or cartel. Beside it, a data drive and a small black case. Kasper opened the case to find six vials of stabilizing compound, the kind used for enhancement rejection symptoms.
He knew only one person who had access to this quality of technology.
Attached to the data drive was an old-fashioned paper note, handwritten in a precise script he'd seen before on Academy evaluation forms:
"The stabilizing compound will buy you weeks, not months. The enhancement module can't be traced. The intelligence on the drive concerns the Director's supply routes through the southern provinces—patterns your fisherwoman friend might not know about. Use it well. No return communication required or desired. —Z"
At the bottom, almost as an afterthought, in slightly less formal handwriting:
"She asks about you. I tell her nothing. That is all I can offer both of you."
Kasper ran his fingers over the enhancement module. Top-tier technology that would have been impossible to acquire through official channels, especially with Costa del Sol under scrutiny. The kind of equipment that required Obsidian Syndicate connections and Association override codes.
He hadn't expected this. After their fight, after he'd torn the mask from Zariff's face and discovered Nailah's father beneath it, he'd assumed all ties were severed. Yet here was evidence that despite everything—despite orders, despite personal history—Zariff was still watching out for him. Perhaps for Nailah's sake. Perhaps for his own reasons.
Kasper inserted the data drive, and a detailed map of Costa del Sol's southern coast appeared, overlaid with shipping routes and timestamps. Information Elena couldn't have known—intelligence that would have required satellite access and high-clearance infiltration reports.
He memorized the routes, then removed the drive and destroyed it. The note he burned last, watching Zariff's precise handwriting curl and blacken in the flame.
Their last conversation had ended with blood and accusations. But this package told a different story. Zariff Queen, the man who had tried to stop him from coming to Costa del Sol, was now ensuring he had what he needed to survive it.
"Thank you," Kasper murmured to no one. He wouldn't acknowledge the help directly—Zariff had made that clear. But he would use these tools to finish what he'd started.
And maybe, if he survived this bloody year, he would find a way to make things right with Nailah. If anything remained of the man he used to be.