The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 8
“There’s nothing here...”
The other Special Agent had no idea what had just happened. He had already dumped everything out of the two crates, the worn-out clothes, even the wooden boxes themselves had been pried apart into pieces.
There wasn’t a single coin in sight. Forget the hundreds or thousands in loose change mentioned in the tip, there wasn’t even one.
The agent locked in that subtle standoff reacted immediately. Impossible.
They had already done their homework. This kid named William had been exchanging loose change on a scale most people could not even imagine.
Before William appeared, no one would take a loss just to swap coins. He had opened that path. In the eyes of the Sabine City IRS Special Agents, his seemingly endless coin exchanges were clearly meant to feed Fox.
In recent days, William had only dealt with Fox, no one else. And Fox’s laundromats had shown a sharp spike in reported taxable income.
To Sabine’s IRS, William was the key man.
In fact, they had started tailing him as early as the day before yesterday. Based on his pattern, he should have been delivering the collected coins to the laundromat around now, ostensibly to wash clothes, in reality to conduct illegal transactions.
Then he would continue collecting, until he reached another batch.
All they needed to do was catch him with the coins, mark them, let him deliver them, and the chain of evidence would be complete.
The moment Fox filed his taxes, they would send in personnel to verify the records, catch him in the act, and put him away.
Everything had been calculated down to the smallest detail.
And yet, right here, it broke.
The cart held nothing but old clothes. Not a single coin. Where had the money gone?
For a brief eight seconds, the agent’s eyes lost focus. Then he turned back to William and pointed at him. “Watch yourself...”
He brushed down his coat and left with his partner in quick strides. They were heading to another location.
Experience had taught them not to place all their hopes on a single team. Another unit had already raided William’s temporary residence. If the money was not here, it had to be there.
Even so, something did not sit right.
This young man ... he was hard to read. Nothing like a fresh graduate still carrying reverence for the world.
William watched the two Special Agents leave the alley. He spat, bent down, gathered the scattered clothes, then pushed the cart out.
Sunlight fell across his face. There was no trace of the humiliation or the punch he had just taken. It was as if nothing had happened. Even his smile had not changed.
A few minutes later, he entered the laundromat and went straight into the storage room at the back.
Two young men greeted him, then picked up tools and began dismantling the cart.
The cart itself was not small. Its main frame was made of sturdy steel pipes, lined with wire. At a glance, it seemed completely transparent. That was why the Special Agent had not bothered to inspect it carefully.
The store manager stepped forward, handed William a cigarette, lit it for him, and offered an apology. “I’m sorry about what just happened. I heard about it. We didn’t step in.”
William’s gaze drifted past the manager’s shoulder.
He watched the workers lift the dismantled steel pipes and tilt them over a basket.
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