The city lights of Milwaukee glowed faintly through the late-night fog. Tall towers rose like silent watchers above the streets. In the distance, sirens wailed and then faded into the wind. The city felt tired, breathless, as if it carried a secret too heavy for its own bones.Inside the Vanguard hub, the team gathered around the central table. Holographic screens hovered above the surface, showing maps, names, and lines that connected districts like a spider web.Navarro pointed at one of the larger red zones. “Corruption is spreading faster than we expected. Someone is pulling strings in every district. We need a way into the high-level meetings. We need proof.”Priya pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I can get into one,” she said. Her voice was calm, but her eyes burned with focus. “The elites have a private gathering tonight. Politicians. Businessmen. Security brokers. They call it the Circle of Accord. No one outside the circle is allowed inside.”Jin raised an eyebrow. “

Rain fell over Milwaukee like a heavy gray curtain. The sky felt low and crowded, as if it wanted to crush the whole city under its weight. The streets were slick with thin rivers of water that glowed under streetlights. Every building looked tired, every corner held some kind of shadow.Marcus Hale stood under an old metal awning near the Milwaukee River docks. He kept his hood low and his hands deep in his jacket pockets. His breath came out in thin white clouds. He looked like a man waiting for a ghost.Landon approached him from behind, footsteps soft in the rain. “You said you had something,” Landon said.Marcus did not turn around. “I do. But you won’t like it.”“That’s normal lately,” Landon said gently. “Let’s hear it.”Marcus finally turned. His eyes were red, either from the cold or from something deeper. “The fighters I know, the underground ones, they’ve been hearing things. Rumors. Whispers. And not small stuff. Big things. Dangerous things.”Landon kept his voice calm.

The city felt heavier every day. Smoke hung low over the streets. Sirens cried more often, and whispers in dark alleys carried fear like a disease. Milwaukee was changing fast. Something unseen stalked through the chaos, pulling strings and swallowing territory block by block.Landon felt it in his bones the moment he stepped onto the rooftop of the old brewery building. The wind pushed cold air across his face. Below him, the south side glowed with red and blue police lights. Fires burned in small clusters, each one a sign of a turf fight that had exploded hours earlier.Navarro joined him on the rooftop, adjusting his tactical vest. “Territories are breaking apart,” he said. “The gangs are eating each other alive.”Landon watched two cars speed down the street, guns sticking out of the windows. “Or being forced to.”Navarro nodded grimly. “Forced is the right word.”Downstairs, Claire’s voice echoed faintly through the stairwell. “Everyone inside now,” she called. “We have updates

The night was cold, sharp, and strangely silent as the Vanguard moved along the abandoned industrial road. The moon hung low over Milwaukee, pale and thin like a blade. Old warehouses stretched out on both sides, their windows smashed and their doors rusted. Landon led the team forward with quiet, careful steps, his hand resting on the grip of his weapon, his senses open and stretched like a net.Jin walked beside him with his tablet pressed to his chest. “The convoy should be close,” he whispered. “They turned off all trackers, but I picked up heat signatures. Three transport trucks. Heavily armored.”Priya moved ahead a few steps, checking corners and shadows. Her eyes were sharp, thin lines of focus. “Whoever runs this convoy,” she said, “knows how to disappear. Every informant we talked to refused to say anything. They are terrified.”Marcus scoffed, trying to sound bold. “People are scared of everything these days.”Priya shot him a look. “This is different. They said the convo

The rain fell in thin silver lines across the abandoned industrial zone on Milwaukee’s south side. Rusted rail tracks cut through broken pavement, and old warehouses leaned like tired giants in the dark. The night air carried a strange smell, part metal and part something warm and alive, a smell that should not exist anywhere near machines.Landon stepped out of the SUV first. His boots sank into wet gravel. He listened to the wind scraping across the empty yard and felt the wrongness in his bones. The Syndicate outpost they were supposed to hit tonight looked dead from the outside, too still, too silent. That made him uneasy.Claire moved beside him, eyes sharp behind her wet bangs. “No guards. No alarms. This is not right,” she whispered.“It is a trap,” Jin said softly as he shut the SUV door. “Everything about this place is screaming it.”But Navarro shook his head. “We push in. Intel says mid-level bosses are inside. We cannot walk away.”Marcus gave a quick nod. “I say we hit