The top-floor office of the Apex Directorate in Geneva, Director Blackwell stood over his computer console, waiting for the screen to show that Onyx Harbor had been destroyed."Did it hit?" Blackwell demanded, his voice desperate. "Tell me the city is in darkness!"The chief engineer slowly pulled himself up off the floor, looking at the main wall monitors with wide, terrified eyes. "Director... the power line is still open. But the signal... the energy reading isn't dropping!"On the large wall screen, the line tracking the power surge suddenly stopped moving forward. For a single second, the digital indicator hovered in place over the Atlantic ocean. Then, the line turned a blinding electric blue and began moving backward toward Geneva at ten times its original speed.The engineer’s face lost all color. "It's coming back!" he shrieked, trying to scramble toward the exit doors. "It bounced off their core! The energy has been amplified, it's bouncing back!""What do you mean bouncing

The doors leading into the main keep of Castle Valdemar creaked open. Chris moved along and Adrian walked half a step behind him, holding a slim leather folder, his eyes darting across the high vaulted ceiling and the ancient banners hanging from the walls."This place feels like a tomb," Adrian murmured under his breath, keeping his voice extremely low. "The walls are three feet thick. There is zero mobile service here, Chris. Our standard encrypted radios are completely dead.""BODAS is running on internal memory through my watch," Chris replied quietly. "We don't need a mobile network. Keep your head up and let them see no fear."At the end of the long corridor stood two massive doors. Two guards in dark suits pushed the doors open, revealing the grand council chamber of Castle Valdemar. The room was vast and circular, carved directly out of the mountain's bedrock. High above, a chandelier shone brightly. In the center of the room sat an huge, round table made of glass.Sitting ar

The long hallway leading away from the council chamber was almost pitch black. Cold mountain air whistled through narrow cracks in the walls, causing.Adrian hurried after Chris but kept looking over his shoulder, expecting armed men to jump out from every dark shadow."Chris, slow down for a second," Adrian pleaded in a hushed, trembling whisper. "We need a plan. Wolfgang, Vance, and Al-Mansoor aren't just bluffing. Did you see the look in their eyes? They are going to try to kill you tonight!"Chris didn't stop or slow his pace. His seemed completely relaxed "I know, Adrian. I read their vitals while they were talking. Their heart rates were elevated before Wolfgang even stood up to speak.""Which means they planned this before they even stepped onto the castle grounds," Adrian realized, his face turning even paler in the dim light. "They definitely brought hidden weapons or brought killers inside the walls beforehand!""Precisely," Chris said, turning a corner into a broader wing o

The doors of the library locked from the inside with a quiet click as Adrian slid the iron deadbolt into place. Across the large room, the eight disarmed assassins lay bound and silent on the stone floor, their wrists and ankles tightly secured with heavy leather straps taken from the reading room curtains. Chris pulled out a chair at the long central reading table and sat down. The moonlight streaming through the high stained-glass window showed his calm, composed face. He looked as fresh as if he had just stepped out of a morning executive meeting, without a single wrinkle or a stain on his white dress shirt.Adrian pulled up another chair beside him, his hands still trembling slightly as he set his slim tablet down on the dark wood surface. "My heart is still beating out of my chest, Chris," Adrian admitted, rubbing his forehead as he took a deep breath. "Those men were elite mercenaries. If you had hesitated for even half a second, we would both be dead right now.""Fear makes peo

The first faint golden light of dawn began to creep through the high stained-glass windows of the council chamber. Lord Wolfgang remained pinned face-down against the cold glass, his broken wrist throbbing with intense pain. Chris hadn't moved an inch, holding the older man down with a single firm hand pressed against the back of his neck. Lord Vance and Lord Al-Mansoor sat trembling in their seats, their faces pale as they stared at the financial evidence still displayed on the screen in front of them.Outside the entrance doors, the loud click of deadbolts echoed through the corridor. The twenty-four-hour lockup was officially over. The doors swung open slowly, revealing the Godfather standing in the doorway.He was dressed in a dark tailor-made coat, his silver hair neatly combed back, and his hands resting on his polished wooden cane. Behind him stood two dozen elite castle guards dressed in tactical gear, their rifles held at the ready. The old man stepped smoothly into the smok