The room was heavy with silence. He sat alone, the low hum of the city leaking through cracked windows. His fingers drummed on the worn table, eyes flicking to the door every few seconds.

The air tasted thick, anticipation mixing with exhaustion. Outside, distant sirens wailed.

He reached for his glass of whiskey but didn’t drink. Instead, he stared into the amber liquid, seeing the fight yet to come reflected in its depths.

The weight of what was coming pressed down, but for now, there was only the quiet, the moment just before everything changed.