Library
Search
Home / MM Romance / The Cold Compromise / Bait

Share

Bait

Author: Lee Ray
last update Last Updated: 2026-01-01 14:49:33

Chapter 79: The Bait

The lodge was silent except for the faint hum of the generator. Outside, the fog clung to the plateau like a living thing, swallowing the jagged pines and dropping the world into cold, soft grey. Luca found a small, shielded pantry in the far corner of the lodge, the perfect place to make a call that left no trace. He could feel the weight of the moment settle into his chest: contacting Silvio carried immense risk, but the alternative—carrying an injured Ethan down a mountain with Maxwell’s network tightening every hour—was a death sentence.

He sat on a splintered wooden crate, balancing the satellite phone in his hand. The SIM was new, anonymous, and temporary, a single-use lifeline. He typed in the dormant emergency number he knew Silvio still monitored. It was an old channel, long considered dead, yet Silvio had kept it as a last tether to the Family’s communication network.

The line rang twice. Luca counted in his head. One. Two. And then:

“Who is this?”
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter
Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Latest chapter

  • The Cold Compromise    Borrowed Time

    Chapter 85: Borrowed Time The scent of burning wood and resin lingered in the cold air, sharp and acrid, as Luca and Ethan raced down the slope away from the Old Sawmill. Smoke curled behind them, twisting with the wind, marking the inferno they had left in their wake. For a brief moment, the fire had bought them precious minutes, but it had also broadcast their presence to any observer with eyes in the valley. Ethan’s side throbbed with every step, each breath a blade cutting into his lungs. “We need a vehicle, Luca,” he panted, gripping his side with one hand while leaning on Luca with the other. “We can’t cross France on foot. We need at least an hour of driving to even stand a chance.” Luca scanned the terrain, the dense pine and oak lining the mountainside. Their footsteps were deliberate, leaving a trace barely as they moved parallel to the Route Napoleon. The path was rough, uneven, and sharp with roots and stone, but it allowed them to stay close to the road without being

  • The Cold Compromise    The Old Sawmill

    Chapter 84: The Old Sawmill Luca and Ethan crawled from the icy creek bed, slick with black mud that clung to every fibre of their clothing. The cold had been brutal, searing their lungs, but the sludge offered a brief shield against Maxwell’s thermal sensors. Ethan’s ribs throbbed with each laboured breath, yet the cold had muted the pain just enough for him to move. Their bodies shook violently, teeth chattering, limbs trembling as if their muscles themselves had forgotten how to obey. “Keep moving,” Luca rasped, dragging Ethan toward the underbrush. “She’s ahead, setting a trap. Maxwell knows the Route Napoleon is our only corridor to the coast.” The old side track, barely visible beneath decades of overgrowth, led them to L’Ancienne Scierie—the Old Sawmill. The structure rose from the forest like a skeleton of decay, its wooden beams warped and grey, roofs collapsed in places, machinery rusting in silence. It was abandoned, forgotten, and the perfect place to disappear—or be c

  • The Cold Compromise    Thermal Trap

    Chapter 83: The Thermal Trap The frigid air burned through Luca’s lungs as if the mountain itself was trying to freeze him from the inside out. Every breath felt sharp, metallic, and painful. Beside him, Ethan’s steps were uneven and unsteady, each movement sending a jolt of agony through the wound in his side. The two men moved south in silence, descending the last of the steep mountain slopes until the terrain finally levelled out into the long, winding asphalt of the Route Napoleon. The road was abandoned at this altitude. Desolate. A narrow strip of cracked pavement cutting through towering forests of pine and fir. Frost clung to the branches and sparkled in the faint sunlight. Nothing moved. Not even the birds. The air was too cold for anything to linger. It was the fastest path to the coast, which made it the most dangerous one to take. Ethan leaned heavily against Luca’s shoulder. His breathing was shallow and shaky, as if every inhale scraped against raw bone. “We have to

  • The Cold Compromise    Scent of Justice

    Chapter 82: The Scent of Justice The cold that clung to the mountains felt different now. It wasn’t the sharp, cutting cold of dawn anymore. It had settled into something duller, heavier—like the world itself was holding its breath. From the ridge where Luca and Ethan crouched, the entire St. Bernard Pass lay exposed beneath them, a thin white scar along the mountainside. Hours earlier, the place had been a battleground of panic, gunfire, and survival. Now it moved with the quiet precision of a federal operation. Black SUVs rolled in one after another, their tyres carving deliberate lines into the snow. Agents from Hayes’s clean unit stepped out with a kind of calm purpose that came only from knowing exactly what mission they’d been sent for. No shouting. No frantic movements. Just the soft clack of doors and the crunch of boots across frozen ground. Silvio Gatto was dragged out moments later, thrashing and spitting curses that vanished into the cold air. He didn’t look threatenin

  • The Cold Compromise    Impromptu Blockade

    Chapter 81: Impromptu Blockade The high-pitched whine of an approaching vehicle tore through the still, frozen silence of the St. Bernard Pass. Every snow-laden tree seemed to shiver with the sound, and Luca felt a sudden, cold surge of adrenaline tighten in his chest. Ethan’s breathing came shallow, but measured—each exhale a careful ration of oxygen against his fractured ribs. The moment had come, the culmination of all their planning, and yet the unpredictability of human greed and malice made it a knife-edge gamble. Silvio, already trembling with panic, jammed the van into reverse. The tyres churned the snow beneath, sending white clouds curling into the air. He yanked the wheel back and forth, searching desperately for control, trying to escape what he perceived as an ambush. “He’s leaving!” Ethan shouted, his voice hoarse, trembling with both urgency and pain. He shoved the EMP trigger into Luca’s hand. “We have to neutralise the van now!” “Not yet!” Luca snapped, eyes nar

  • The Cold Compromise    EMP Trap

    Chapter 80: The EMP Trap The lodge was a frozen skeleton of its former self. Frost clung to the edges of broken windowpanes, and the smell of damp wood and burnt oil hung thick in the air. Luca moved with quiet, precise urgency, dismantling the old generator for its magnet coils, stripping copper wire from the attic, and twisting it into dense coils around a rusted gas canister. Every movement was deliberate. Every touch was a calculation. Ethan, pale and bruised, leaned heavily against the stone fireplace, ribs tightly bound. Despite the agony in every breath, he was alert, eyes sharp with the cold clarity of a former agent who had never stopped thinking two steps ahead. “The secure vans use a proprietary encryption for the remote ignition bypass,” Ethan explained, his voice rough but controlled. “It’s a low-frequency broadcast. But it needs a sudden surge of power to override it, fry the system. We’re not building an EMP in the usual sense—we’re building an oversized, low-frequ

More Chapters

You may also like

Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status