Todos los capítulos de Unprofessional Conduct: The Storme Shield: Capítulo 21 - Capítulo 30

"If I do this, we’re going to electrocute the entire hallway," Elias hissed, his voice trembling despite his best efforts to maintain a steady grip on the frayed copper ends. "We’re supposed to be staying low, Roderick! Not staging an industrial-grade execution!"Roderick didn’t look back. His eyes remained locked on the straining metal of the door, where the crowbar had now carved a jagged, glowing sliver of light into the darkened room. The iron teeth of the hinge were screaming under the pressure, the sound a shrill, rhythmic grating that set Elias’s teeth on edge. "Low profile is a luxury we lost ten minutes ago, Elias. We aren’t killing them; we are dissuading them. Just hold that wire until the pressure gauge hits the red line. Then, you let go. Not a second before, not a second after."Elias swallowed hard, the taste of dry rot and anxiety coating his throat. Outside, a voice—gruff, gravelly, and entirely devoid of empathy—roared for the third time. "I know you’re in there, you

The air in the hallway was saturated with the smell of scorched ozone and wet concrete. Outside the safehouse door, the initial cacophony of the Ironmongers’ assault had transitioned instantly into a frantic, chaotic scramble. There were no cries of battle-hardened veterans here; only the panicked, high-pitched yelps of thugs who had expected an easy shakedown and instead found themselves standing in a puddle energized by several thousand volts of industrial current. Bodies thudded against the walls, heavy boots skidded on the suddenly slick floor, and the metallic clatter of dropped pry-bars echoed through the cramped corridor.Roderick didn't wait to survey the wreckage. He was moving before the final spark had even faded, his boots silent on the moldy floorboards. He kicked the door wide, his posture low and defensive, his eyes scanning for any threats that might have been behind the front line. There was nobody left standing in the hall. Two men were slumped against the opposite w

The descent down the fire escape was a frantic, bone-jarring affair. Each step on the rusted iron grated beneath Elias’s boots, the sound echoing like a gunshot in the stagnant air of the industrial district. He followed Roderick’s lead, his lungs burning as they hit the rain-slicked pavement of the alleyway. The sky above was a bruised purple, leaking a cold, miserable drizzle that turned the soot-stained ground into a treacherous slurry of oil and grime.Roderick didn't slow down until they reached the mouth of the alley, where the neon glow of a failing streetlamp flickered in a stuttering, rhythmic pulse. He ducked into the shadows of a dumpster, pressing his back against the brick wall, his breath coming in measured, disciplined puffs. He signaled Elias to stay low, his hand resting on the hilt of a tactical knife he hadn’t even needed to draw."Check the perimeter," Roderick commanded, his voice barely a murmur.Elias crouched, his hands shaking as he pulled out his phone, his t

The rain-slicked alleyway seemed to shrink as the figure emerged from the veil of the downpour. For a heartbeat, Elias felt his pulse stutter to a halt. He braced himself for a kinetic confrontation—a flash of steel or the heavy, concussive impact of a suppressed firearm. But the figure didn't lunge. Instead, she stood still, her silhouette framed by the flickering neon of the streetlamp, her hands raised in a gesture of deliberate, non-threatening surrender."You two are terrible at staying hidden," a voice sliced through the heavy atmosphere. It was a voice Elias recognized—sharp, professional, and carrying the distinctive, jagged edge of a woman who had spent too much time chasing stories that didn't want to be told."Tessa," Elias breathed, his grip on his phone loosening just enough to allow him to breathe.Roderick didn't move. His posture remained coiled, a predatory tension that suggested he was ready to neutralize her within a fraction of a second. He squinted through the glo

Tessa didn’t flinch at the accusation. She merely reached into her inner pocket with two fingers, pulling out a small, waterproof drive wrapped in a plastic seal. She tossed it onto the concrete between them. It landed with a hollow, plastic clack that sounded deafening in the silence between the thunderclaps.“I didn’t track your digital footprint,” Tessa said, her voice steady despite the shivering in her shoulders. “I tracked the Ghost Unit’s logistics. You’re playing hide-and-seek with a ghost, Roderick. I’m just the person who happens to know where the graveyard is.”Roderick finally lowered his hand, though he didn’t relax. He glanced at the drive, then back at Tessa, his eyes narrowing into slits. "You're playing a dangerous game, Tessa. If you're near me, you're near them. They don’t leave loose ends, and they certainly don’t let journalists walk away with the kind of information you’re implying you have.""They're already hunting me," she retorted, stepping out from under the