Latest Chapter

• 219: Infiltration

  At 6:17 p.m., two white cleaning vans approached the northern gate.The guards immediately stepped forward. One raised his hand.“Stop.”The first van came to a halt. A guard approached the driver’s window.“Identification.”The driver handed over a badge. The guard examined it carefully.Behind the tinted windshield, Xander remained completely still.He was dressed in a gray maintenance uniform, a baseball cap pulled low over his face. Beside him sat Wrecking Ball, dressed as a cleaner, while Reaper sat in the back with Shadow.Nobody moved.The guard looked at the badge again, then at the tablet in his hand.“Why are you early?”Xander didn’t hesitate. “I’m here for generator maintenance.”The guard frowned. “We didn’t request generator maintenance.”Xander sighed dramatically.“That’s what I told the dispatcher.”The guard stared at him.Xander shrugged. “Call your supervisor.”The guard reached for his radio.That was the dangerous moment.The call must not go through.Phantom’s

• 218: Behind the walls

  For several seconds, nobody moved.If that was Mark’s, then there was a great chance Jake would be held hostage there. There was finally hope.Then Silas straightened from the table. “How soon?”“Tomorrow,” Felix said.Xander looked at him. “Tomorrow?”“We leave before sunrise.”Kimber frowned. “You’re sure you want to move that quickly?”Felix's eyes remained fixed on the red dot blinking on the screen.“We've spent five weeks looking for Jake. I'm not wasting another hour.”Shadow nodded slowly. “Then we need to assume they're expecting us.”“They probably are,” Felix replied.That made everyone pause.Felix looked around the room.“That's why we don't rush in. We watch first. We learn how many men are there, what kind of security they have, how they move, where the entrances are, and whether Jake is actually inside.”Silas nodded. “Understood.”“The moment we find something useful, we move.”The guards began preparing immediately.Weapons were checked. Vehicles were fueled. Communi

• 217: Nothing.

  The night bled into dawn before they even realized. The rain had stopped already.He did not return.*Felix stood at the warehouse gates, his eyes scanning the ground. They decided to come back to East Valley city and search the fight scene again. He found Jake’s phone smashed against a crate. Blood, though they were just small dots, had dried near the wall. But that was it. There was nothing else.“Are you sure this is the spot?” Kimber asked, his flashlight cutting through the dim light.“Yes.” Felix’s voice was flat. “This is where he fought Mark. I can feel it.”The guards spread out, sweeping the area. The place was spotless. The hundreds of bodies that had fallen were gone. The crates were neatly restacked and the floor was scrubbed clean. It was as if nothing had happened here.“Damn it!” Felix kicked a metal barrel. The clang echoed into the distance. “They cleaned it up! Everything! Every fucking trace!”“Son,” Kimber said softly, “don’t—”“No!” Felix cut him off, frustrated

• 216: Where’s Jake?

  Back at the warehouse, Silas ripped open a sealed door leading to an escape tunnel. “Path clear!”“Go!” Shadow ordered.The seven of them began retreating through the tunnel, covering each other as they went.Felix looked back one last time at the chaos, the blood and the smoke. His heart was heavy as blood flowed from his thigh. He didn’t mind taking hits. He would do everything possible to protect his Elsa.They disappeared into the tunnel, leaving behind a burning warehouse and hundreds of fallen soldiers.They burst out of the back of the warehouse. Rain poured down in sheets, soaking their clothes and making the ground slick."Fuck." Felix bent over, placing his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. His lungs burned, his arms ached, and blood dripped from a cut near his jaw. Everyone else looked just as wrecked, groaning. Their faces were smeared with dirt, blood, and sweat."How did that bastard manage to hire top-class mercenaries, for one girl? And just to keep abus

• 215: Got you

  Something suddenly clicked in his head. He tapped his comm. “Phantom, Shadow, overhead lighting, now!”“On it.”Moments later, every light in the warehouse shut off completely and everywhere became dark.Phantom moved like a ghost in the pitch black, his night-vision goggles flickering green. Gunfire broke out but Mark’s men didn’t even know where it came from. One by one, their rifles became silent.Shadow was pure death in the dark. Every step he took was silent. You only knew he was there when you heard a body drop.Felix’s mind flashed back to the orphanage. He remembered the cold floor. He remembered the hands that shoved him. The boy who took each blow and kept counting breaths. Felix pushed that old fear into his fists and let it go. He never wanted to be that small again.He spun, ducked, and tackled a shooter who tried to attack him. Just as things were turning in their favor, a drone hummed overhead and a pale light scanned the floor. Phantom cursed. “Fuckkk. Those are dro

• 214: was he missing something?

  Gunfire exploded from above as Phantom opened fire from the rooftop, covering their flank. Shadow rolled behind a crate, pulling out his knife. Silas and Xander dove for cover, returning shots. Jake grabbed Felix by the collar and yanked him down. “MOVE!” Bullets tore through the walls, sparks flying. Mark ducked behind a pillar, laughing even as chaos erupted around him. “Welcome to my world, Felix!” Felix’s teeth clenched as he raised his gun. “Then let’s end it.” The warehouse became a war zone. He ducked behind a pillar as they fired at it, sparks flashing near his face. “Positions!” he shouted over the chaos. “Take cover and return fire!” “On it!” Xander’s voice came through. The lieutenant’s son rolled across the floor, flipping up his rifle. “Shadow, left flank!” Jake barked. Shadow was already gone. The former mercenary slipped through the smoke and vanished behind stacked barrels. Six men came running at him. He slit one’s throat in a blink of an eye, caught