Mag-log inCHAPTER 59.BLADE POV.The timeline had completely collapsed.Morrison driving straight to the Devil’s Disciple compound meant our three days had been smashed into three hours. There was no more waiting, no more cautious surveillance, no more hoping we could pick our moment. Venom and Morrison were going to burn every piece of evidence, reroute the shipment, or send an armed strike team up the compound to put us six feet under before noon."Ghost, shut down all external channels," I ordered, my voice dead calm as I stepped out into the main corridor. "Ash, bring everyone inside. Main hall. Right now."Sophia fell into step beside me, her eyes sharp, though the pale dawn light made her golden skin look ghostly. "Blade, what’s the move? If Morrison brings Venom’s guys here....""We should stop hiding," I cut her off. "We can't fight a war with half our own people blindfolded. It's time."Five minutes later, the main hall was filled with thirty men. They were full members of the club. He
CHAPTER 58.SOPHIA POV.The air in the room didn't just turn cold ,it turned lethal.The next ten minutes were the most dangerous I had ever navigated in my entire career. The invisible thread we had been walking snapped in two, falling away into an abyss. Morrison knew we knew. The pretense, the smooth political performance, the polished mentor facade, it all collapsed like wet cardboard in a rainstorm.He didn't scream. He didn't make a loud, dramatic scene. He was far too professional, far too high up in the machine for that. But the warmth drained from his voice so completely that every syllable felt like a frostbite warning."Get your gear, Martinez," Morrison said. His voice was flat, sharp, and stripped of every ounce of human cadence. "You're coming with me. Now." My eyes roved over the agents with him, Chad smirking like he's happy I was in trouble. For some reason, that motherfucker made me mad."No," I said.I didn't yell it. I didn't stammer. I just stood my ground between
CHAPTER 57.BLADE POV.The hallway outside the evidence room was cold, but the air inside the main room was thick enough to choke on.I stepped out from the shadow of the threshold into the pale morning light, my movements slow, measured, and entirely unhurried. My boots made a faint, steady rhythm against the concrete floor. I wasn't wearing my club jacket, just a dark thermal shirt and my sidearm holstered low on my hip.Morrison was sitting at our communal table like he owned the place, his hands folded neatly over the scuffed wood.When he heard my footsteps, his head turned slowly. His sharp, calculating eyes locked onto mine. For a long, motionless second, the room seemed to lose all sound.We looked at each other with the instant, mutual recognition of two men who understood exactly who and what the other was. There was no need for introductions, no need for posturing. He saw an ex-operator who had been tearing down his shadow network from the outside; I saw the corrupt suit wh
CHAPTER 56. SOPHIA POV. A heavy hand pressed firmly against my shoulder, leaving no room for doubt that something was wrong. I snapped awake instantly, my hand shooting instinctively to grab the arm before my eyes had even adjusted to the darkness. The smell of worn leather and cold air hit me first. Blade stood over me, his face carved out of shadow, lit only by the faint gray light of early morning creeping through the high, barred window. "Blade?" I called out, my eyes struggling to make out his shape in the dim light. "Nice reflexes," he said, and I could hear just the tiniest hint of approval in his voice. "Thanks. What happened?" I asked, my heart already starting to pound faster. "Morrison's car is two miles out," Blade said, his voice low and rough, cutting straight through the last bits of sleepiness in my brain. "He is on the north ridge road." The rush of panic hit my bloodstream like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over my head. I blinked hard, suddenly re
CHAPTER 55.BLADE POV.The silence inside the compound at 3:00 AM wasn't the peaceful kind you would want. It was the heavy, choking quiet that settled over a place right before all hell broke loose. In less than twenty-four hours, Venom's shipment would roll through Desert Cross, Morrison would activate his network, and Reeze's entire rotten empire would either fall apart or flatten us like pancakes on the pavement.Everyone else had gone to bed, trying to grab whatever desperate hours of sleep they could manage before tomorrow's chaos. I stood at the main console, the cool blue light of the monitors lighting up my face in the dark room. My fingers moved across the keys in a steady, familiar rhythm, running final checks, double-checking the coded dead-drops, and monitoring the ping signals on our area sensors. Everything was set. Everything was ready.The soft, metallic click of the door made my hand instantly drop toward the gun at my hip.I paused, relaxing my grip as the door crea
CHAPTER 54.SOPHIA POV.I saw how disturbed Blade was by the encrypted files we uncovered. The rocky relationship he had with his father still didn't mean he didn't care for his father.I understood how much pain and guilt one feels in such situations. My hand was still in his warm hand, we sat like that, never minding that Ghost was in the room. He slightly squeezed my hand before letting go. Drawing back to the situation we had at hand. We brainstormed over the evidences, silently rebuffing outrageous plans by Ghost.By two in the morning, the heavy air in the room had settled into a sharp, static hum. The blueprints, satellite overlays, and decrypted director’s files covered every inch of the primary display. The truth was out in the open now, brutal and cold. Reeze, Morrison, Venom... they were all part of the same monstrous machine.We had a plan.It was intricate, terrifying, and razor-thin, but it was the only way to tear down the entire network without letting them bury us fir







