The next morning, Logan sat comfortably on the velvet sofa of his penthouse suite. He was patiently awaiting Harper's arrival.
He mentally revised his strategy. A cold smirk touched his lips as he considered the sheer ruthlessness of his trap. Instead of a knock at the door, his phone vibrated loudly against the glass coffee table. "Logan, you have to get here right now!" Harper Collins sobbed into the receiver. She sounded utterly terrified. "They are going to ruin my entire life," she wept. "Please, I need you." "I am on my way," Logan replied smoothly. He ended the call without another word. He instructed his driver to head straight to the Greenfield Energy corporate headquarters downtown. Logan stepped out of the vehicle and walked into the sprawling glass lobby. He heard the screaming before he even reached the executive offices. Harper was on her knees in the middle of the department floor. She clutched the edge of a desk, tears streaming down her pale face. "Please do not fire me, Mr. Davis," Harper begged loudly. "My father is sick. I need the medical insurance." Her department manager stood awkwardly behind his desk. He looked deeply uncomfortable but maintained a rigid posture. "My hands are completely tied, Harper," Manager Davis said. "I cannot risk the entire company for one employee." Madison and Mason Bennett stood a few feet away. They looked entirely out of place in their country club attire, but their posture reeked of absolute authority. "It is your own fault, Harper," Madison sneered, adjusting her designer handbag. "You chose to associate with a traitor." "You should have known better than to get close to the wrong people," Mason added with a smug smile. A cold, echoing laugh interrupted the scene. Logan walked slowly into the center of the room. His hands were tucked casually into his coat pockets. "Why exactly are you targeting my friend?" Logan asked. His voice was incredibly calm, slicing through the tension in the room. Mason turned around. His bruised jaw was still visibly swollen from the previous night, but his arrogant smirk remained. "You humiliated us yesterday, Logan," Mason said loudly for the entire office to hear. "Since you think you are untouchable, we decided to go after the people you actually care about," Madison added. She crossed her arms with malicious satisfaction. Mason stepped forward and grabbed Harper by the collar of her blouse. He yanked her roughly to her feet. Harper screamed in panic, reaching out her hands toward Logan. Mason raised his right hand and delivered a brutal slap across Harper's cheek. The sharp crack echoed through the silent office. Harper stumbled sideways, crying out in pain. "Logan, please..!" Logan stood perfectly still, his expression entirely blank. Mason frowned. He expected Logan to charge forward like a raving lunatic. Seeing Logan stand completely motionless made Mason angry. He assumed he just had not hit her hard enough to break Logan's composure. Mason grabbed Harper by the hair, pulling her head back violently. "You brought this on her, Logan!" Mason shouted. He slapped Harper again, much harder this time. Harper wailed, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Madison stepped forward and joined in. She slapped Harper across the other side of her face. "This is what happens when you cross the Bennett family!" Madison shrieked. They took turns striking the weeping girl. Harper collapsed onto the carpet, sobbing uncontrollably. Her face was turning black and blue. Still, Logan did nothing. He just watched the brutal performance. He knew the truth. Harper was Mason's paid spy. She was enduring this severe beating just to sell the illusion that she was an innocent victim. Mason and Madison were physically destroying their own informant just to secure Logan's trust. It was an incredibly pathetic display of greed. Harper was barely conscious now. She curled into a tight ball on the floor, whimpering softly. Only then did Logan finally speak. "Stop," Logan commanded. His voice carried absolute authority. Mason and Madison froze. They stepped back, breathing heavily, their faces flushed with exertion. They exchanged a quick, victorious glance. Logan walked slowly past them and stopped in front of Manager Davis. "What exactly is going on here?" Logan asked calmly. Manager Davis swallowed hard, intimidated by the sheer coldness radiating from Logan. "The Bennett family threatened to pull all their corporate investments from Greenfield Energy," Davis explained nervously. "They said if I do not fire Harper today, they will completely ruin our supply chain and bankrupt the company." Logan nodded slowly. He looked down at Harper, who was looking up at him with bruised, desperate eyes. "What if I brought in an order large enough to keep the entire company afloat?" Logan asked. "An order that makes the Bennett investment look like pocket change." Manager Davis was utterly astonished. His eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you serious?" Davis asked. "That would require an influx of tens of millions of dollars. The Bennetts are our primary backers." Logan pulled his phone from his pocket. He opened his banking application and placed the screen flat on the mahogany desk. Davis leaned forward. He audibly gasped. The verified account balance displayed millions of dollars in liquid cash. Madison and Mason stood in the background. They did not look angry at all. Instead, they exchanged a very secret, immensely pleased look. Their trap had worked perfectly. Logan had taken the bait. He was going to spend his vast fortune to protect his precious friend. Harper pushed herself up from the floor. She wiped the blood from her mouth, a look of profound gratitude washing over her battered face. "Logan, thank you," Harper cried softly. "You just saved my life." She coughed, leaning against the desk for support. Her eyes darted quickly toward her manager. "Mr. Davis, we can process his order right now," Harper said eagerly. She looked back at Logan with a sweet, bruised smile. "I can personally recommend several of our high yield energy portfolios," Harper offered. "We have incredible green tech stocks and solar array investments you could resell for a massive profit." Logan knew exactly what those products were. They fell entirely within the business scope of Preston Bennett's corporate empire. If Logan bought those portfolios, the money would funnel directly back into the Bennett family accounts. Harper was steering his wealth right into Mason's open hands. Logan let out a low, dark smirk. "Those portfolios are fine," Logan said dismissively. "But they are not what I need." Harper blinked in confusion. "Then what do you want to buy?" "I am preparing for a very specific type of market crash," Logan stated. His eyes locked onto Harper. "I want to buy anthracite coal," Logan commanded. "Thousands of tons of it. I want military grade weapons, heavy ammunition, and industrial thermal plating." The entire room went dead silent. Mason dropped his smug smile. Madison stared at Logan with absolute bewilderment. "Coal?" Harper stammered, entirely thrown off her script. "Weapons?" Greenfield Energy was a modern corporate firm. They dealt in clean tech and white collar investments. They did not deal in raw fossil fuels and armaments. "Yes," Logan said perfectly clearly. He tapped his finger against the desk. "Can you handle that kind of order, Harper? Or do I need to take my money to a different company?"Latest Chapter
Fall Back
The heavy steel doors of the secret elevator slid apart. Grinding metal screamed against the stone floor. Yellow hazard lights spun in a slow, rhythmic circle above the dark threshold.Logan tightened his grip on his iron blade. Jace raised his bloody steel pipe. Caleb aimed his stolen pistol directly into the opening. The soldiers of the Cold Blooded Army braced themselves for a brutal fight. They expected a massive biological nightmare to charge out of the darkness and slaughter their front line."Hold your fire," Logan commanded his men. "Do not shoot unless it steps into the light.""Nelson kept this elevator sealed for a reason," Sergeant Cross warned from the back of the formation. "He threatened to feed deserters to whatever lives down there.""Did you ever see the beast?" Jace asked. The large mechanic did not lower his weapon."Nobody saw it and lived," Cross replied. "We only heard the noises.""What kind of noises?" Caleb asked. He kept his eyes locked on the pitch black vo
Opening
The red digital zeroes blinked on the cracked screen of the detonator.Lieutenant Graves pressed his bloodied thumb against the activation button a second time. The small plastic device clicked hollowly. He pressed it a third time. He slammed the detonator against the concrete floor. The explosive charges wired to the massive fuel tanks remained entirely dormant."Why did it not ignite?" Graves whispered to himself. He stared at the pooling diesel fuel soaking his uniform. "The signal transmitted. The relay engaged."Ashton stood over the broken officer. The Hunter commander wiped a smear of dark oil from his face and looked down at the dead detonator."You trusted your infrastructure too much," Ashton told the lieutenant. "You forgot we had mechanics inside your walls before the siege even started."Four hours earlier.Scalding steam flooded the primary boiler room. Caleb smashed the butt of his stolen pistol into the digital control console to lock the pressure valves. The analog di
3,2,1...
Ashton navigated the dark maintenance corridors with lethal precision. The falling emergency shutter had separated him from Logan, forcing the Hunter commander to route through the lower utility levels of the sprawling military installation. He bypassed the thick chemical smoke and the chaotic crossfire by utilizing the narrow, subterranean ventilation pathways. His thermal optics revealed the lingering heat signatures of retreating soldiers, but Ashton ignored the scattered infantry. He hunted the command structure. He tracked a single set of frantic footprints leading away from the collapsed central junction.The trail brought him directly to the shattered steel doors of the primary motor pool.Lieutenant Graves sprinted into the cavernous chamber. The room smelled of heavy grease, pulverized stone, and raw diesel fuel. Towering stacks of high explosive mortar shells lined the reinforced concrete walls in pristine wooden crates. The heavy artillery weapons Logan had ruined hours ago
Orders
Fernando kicked the shattered remains of a wooden supply crate out of his path. The iron runners of the captured mortar sled scraped loudly against the concrete floor as the logistics team hauled the heavy weapon forward. The Iron Ranks controlled the upper storage bays completely."The enemy is falling back toward the central junction," Cole reported to his lieutenant. The young soldier wiped a smear of soot from his forehead."They are moving too fast," Fernando noted with a deep frown. He checked the ammunition magazine in his captured assault rifle. "Professional soldiers do not abandon fortified high ground without a tactical reason.""Maybe we broke their spirit," Cole suggested hopefully. "We blew their sandbag barricade to pieces.""You do not break Old Guard veterans with a single explosion," Fernando corrected the young laborer. "Lieutenant Graves rules his men through absolute terror. They are more afraid of their commanding officer than they are of our bullets.""Then why
Who Is Fighting?
The iron grates of the primary holding pens slid open with a loud metallic screech.Caleb tossed the electronic security ring onto the freezing concrete floor. Dozens of starving captives shrank back into the dark corners of the massive cell. They stared at the flashing red strobe lights illuminating the corridor in pure terror. The deafening sirens signaled their immediate execution."They are coming to purge this block," Caleb announced over the blaring alarms. He pulled two heavy sidearms from his tactical belt and kicked them across the floor toward the huddled masses. "Pick the weapons up. You fight right now or you die in a cage."A young scavenger with hollow cheeks stepped forward and grabbed a pistol. He checked the magazine with trembling fingers. Three other captives rushed to gather loose steel pipes and jagged pieces of concrete rubble from the corners of the cell."Stay low and move toward the exit," Caleb commanded the growing mob. "Do not engage until they cross the th
Blaring
Caleb pressed his back against the damp concrete wall and listened to the echoing footsteps. He held his stolen pistol close to his chest and waited for the Old Guard patrol to pass the intersection.Jace stood right behind him. The massive mechanic gripped a thick steel pipe in his calloused hands. His breathing was heavy and erratic."They are walking right toward us," Jace whispered in the dark."They are turning down the utility corridor," Caleb corrected him quietly. "Keep your voice down. We are letting them pass.""I am going to crush their skulls," Jace snarled.Caleb turned around and grabbed the large mechanic by the collar of his canvas coat. He yanked Jace downward until they were eye to eye in the shadows."You are going to stand perfectly still," Caleb ordered."They killed Toby," Jace replied. His voice shook with raw grief and blinding anger. "They shot a boy in the back while he was running away. I am not letting them walk past us.""Toby is dead," Caleb stated. He de
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