LOGINViktor’s frantic roar ignited sheer pandemonium across the outer apron of Blackwood Sanctuary.Any semblance of discipline among his surviving crew evaporated in an instant. Tossing aside rifles with empty magazines, the gunmen scrambled over each other, desperately clawing at the door handles of the few intact vehicles."Drive! Drive, you idiot!" a bruised thug barked, slamming his fist onto an SUV's hood."Wait for Tomas! He's still—""Leave him! You want to die too?!"Two black SUVs wheeled around blindly over the gravel. The reinforced bumper of the lead rig crunched into the passenger door of its twin with a deafening screech of mangled metal. Spinning tires kicked up sprays of crushed stone as both vehicles hurtled downhill, abandoning their dead and wounded without a second glance.Ten twisted corpses lay strewn across the approaches to the steel blast gate. Thick crimson seeped into the fissures of the granite foundation, mingling with spent brass casings and the acrid black s
Eight black SUVs roared up the final stretch of Blackwood Hill, conquering the grade. The mountain fog hung thick and heavy, but the convoy didn't ease off the throttle. The heavy rigs barged onto the cleared gravel apron before the bluffs, roof-mounted light bars flaring in unison. Blinding white light washed over the four-inch-thick steel blast gate.One by one, the guttural rumble of the V8 engines died away.The eight vehicles formed a tight horseshoe perimeter, boxing in the only paved road down the mountain. Doors swung open simultaneously, spilling more than twenty heavily built men onto the gravel—flak jackets strapped tight, automatic rifles held low.The driver’s door of the lead SUV kicked open with deliberate weight.Viktor stepped out onto the rocky ground, moving with slow, predatory dominance. His black military-cut trench coat whipped in the humid, ocean-warmed gale. An assault rifle hung across his broad chest, while a Cuban cigar smoldered at the corner of his lips.
Astrid extended her right hand, clamping her palm firmly around Declan’s tactically gloved grip.Their hold was iron-clad and unyielding—no hesitation, no tremor of doubt."I never hesitate to pull the trigger on vermin," Astrid said coldly.The corner of Declan’s mouth ticked upward into a faint smirk. The pact between two predators atop Blackwood Hill was officially sealed."Good," Declan replied, releasing her hand. "We have less than six hours before they roll up. Spool up every defense you've got."Down in the ground-floor control hub, Nora worked at a breakneck, marathon pace. The sharp stench of flux, electrical tape, and contact cleaner hung heavy in the workshop air. Nora unlatched the primary power distribution panel wired directly into the naval silent diesel generator. Her hands flew across the housing, rigging a high-voltage step-up transformer module.Heavy, dual-insulated copper conduits were routed through subterranean ventilation shafts, snaking up along the reinforce
Flames from the exploded engine bay billowed into the night sky.The two surviving masked gunmen scrambled frantically across the asphalt, desperate to put distance between themselves and the burning wreck. Before they could even raise their weapons to retaliate, the crack of a second shot whined across the ravine from the cliffs above.THUMP!A heavy-caliber round struck the pavement dead between one of the attacker's boots, shattering the asphalt into jagged shrapnel.A chilling, surgical warning shot.The two men instantly hurled their assault rifles over the precipice, spun around, and bolted down the dark mountainside in sheer panic.Astrid didn't waste the opening.Cranking the wheel to the left, she slammed on the gas, crushing scattered bumper fragments under her tires. Her armored SUV squeezed through the narrow gap beside the blazing wreckage, surging smoothly up the final stretch toward the summit.Down from the access trail of Lot 02, a whisper-quiet tactical motorcycle de
Astrid Pierce didn't touch the brakes.The gunman’s threat from the flanking van was met only with a chilling glint in her eyes. Surrendering control of a vehicle on a winding mountain road was tantamount to offering her neck to a butcher's blade.Instead of slowing down, she floored the accelerator.The armored SUV's V8 engine roared with savage fury. The four-wheel-drive system bit into the uphill asphalt, hurling the three-ton beast forward in a fraction of a second.Clamping both hands onto the steering wheel, Astrid cranked it violently to the right with all her might.SLAM!The solid steel-reinforced bumper of her SUV rammed flush into the side sliding door of the flanking van.The massive impact crushed the van’s door frame in an instant. Its side windows exploded into a storm of razor-sharp shards, shredding the face of the gunman who had just issued the threat.The black van's left tires lost purchase. Tilting onto two wheels, the vehicle spun one hundred and eighty degrees a
The digital thermometer on the dashboard of Astrid's black SUV read thirty-eight degrees Celsius.And it was barely ten in the morning. Outside the cabin, the heavy, pressurized air hung stiflingly thick, drenched in scalding ocean moisture that made the asphalt stick to the tires.Rolling blackouts had already begun rippling through several residential districts as air conditioning overloaded the municipal grid.The citizens of Oakhaven assumed it was merely an unseasonal heatwave. But Astrid knew the grim truth behind the phenomenon.The abnormal spike in temperature signaled the shifting of deep oceanic fault lines, superheating the seabed. In a matter of days, the boiling vapors would spawn a monstrous cyclone, sweeping billions of cubic meters of seawater straight onto land.Only nine days remained.Astrid stepped on the gas, cutting through congested traffic toward the southern hotel district.Fuel, artesian water, and Nora’s machine shop gear were securely locked away in the hi







