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Chapter 411 Shadows in the Rearview
The streets of Askalan were crowded with evening traffic, but Laith noticed the black sedan three turns ago. It stayed back, kept its distance, never got close enough to be obvious. But it was there. Always there.He accelerated slightly, weaving through traffic, taking a sudden right turn that wasn't on his usual route. The sedan followed. He took another turn, then another, circling through a residential neighborhood, watching his rearview mirror.The sedan was still there.Laith's jaw tightened. He had been careful. He thought he had been careful. But somehow, somewhere, they had picked up his trail.He pulled into a crowded market street, the kind of place where cars could barely fit, where pedestrians spilled into the road and drivers leaned on their horns. The sedan hesitated at the entrance, then tried to follow.Laith didn't give them the chance. He cut through an alley too narrow for the sedan, emerged on a parallel street, and disappeared into the flow of traffic. When he ch
Chapter 410 The Football Pitch
The afternoon sun blazed down on the dusty football pitch on the outskirts of Askalan. To anyone passing by, it looked like an ordinary training session—a group of young men in mismatched sports jerseys, running drills, practicing passes, scrimmaging under the watchful eye of their coach.But the coach was Marwan. And nothing about this was ordinary."Zayd, you're drifting too far left on the press," Marwan called out, his voice carrying across the pitch. "Remember what I told you about maintaining your shape. The opening will come. You just have to be patient."Zayd, a lanky seventeen-year-old with quick feet and quicker hands, nodded and adjusted his position. What the casual observer would interpret as football instruction was actually something else entirely—a lesson in tactical positioning during a Ghoul hunt. "Maintaining shape" meant not breaking formation. "The opening will come" meant waiting for the enemy to expose itself."Coach, the pitch is too dry," another young man cal
Chapter 409 The Pyramids of Shadows
The safe house was a small, nondescript apartment on the outskirts of Cairo, hidden among a warren of identical buildings that all seemed to blur together. Hazem had been here for three days, living on stale bread and instant coffee, waiting for his contact to deliver the credentials he needed.The walls were thin. He could hear his neighbors arguing in Arabic, a television blaring Egyptian soap operas, children laughing somewhere in the courtyard below. Ordinary life, unfolding around him, oblivious to the danger that lurked in the shadows.His phone buzzed—a secure line, encrypted, routed through three different servers before it reached him. Only one person had this number."Hadi," Hazem said by way of greeting."Commander." Hadi's voice was tired but steady. "I have news. Laith and his team took down a Ghoul at the Askalan Zoo. A big one. It had been feeding for weeks, growing stronger. They handled it."Hazem closed his eyes, a mix of emotions washing over him. Pride, certainly.
Chapter 408 The Beast of Askalan Zoo
The headquarters was eerily quiet. Most of the senior Knights were scattered—Hazem in hiding, Hadi handling legal firestorms, Ali at the hospital with Haneen and the newborn, Marwan working double shifts at the bakery to make ends meet. The underground command center, once alive with the hum of activity, now felt like a tomb.Laith sat alone at the communications desk, his feet propped up on the console, a cup of cold coffee at his elbow. He had been here for hours, waiting for something to happen, anything to break the monotony. His team was on standby, scattered across the city, ready to move at a moment's notice. But the moment hadn't come.Until now.The emergency line buzzed—a priority channel, one reserved for civilians who had been vetted by the Knights. Laith snatched the receiver."Help me, please! It killed him! It killed Youssef!" The voice was a man's, high with terror, barely coherent."Slow down," Laith said, his voice calm but firm. "Who is this? Where are you?""My nam
Chapter 407 New Beginnings
The month that followed the government's inspection was, by any measure, a disaster.Ali had spent countless hours on the phone with lawyers, accountants, and government bureaucrats, trying to keep Askalan Technologies afloat. Every week brought a new crisis—a frozen bank account, a cancelled contract, a supplier who had suddenly decided they could no longer do business with him. The government wasn't arresting him. They weren't raiding his offices again. They were doing something far more insidious: they were strangling him financially."Mr. Ali, your operating license is under review.""Mr. Ali, we need you to provide additional documentation for the past five years of transactions.""Mr. Ali, one of your overseas partners has been flagged for potential connections to unauthorized organizations. We recommend you sever ties immediately."Each notification was a fresh wound. Each requirement was designed to be impossible to meet. They weren't trying to prove he had done something wron
Chapter 406 The Inspection
The morning sun had barely crested the horizon when the convoy arrived. Three black SUVs with tinted windows, their engines growling low as they pulled into the parking lot of the tech company's building. Behind them, a larger van—government issue, unmarked but unmistakable—disgorged a dozen security personnel in dark suits and earpieces.Ali watched from his office window, a cup of coffee cooling in his hand. He had been here since dawn, unable to sleep, knowing what was coming. His employees had been instructed to arrive at their normal times, to act normally, to answer questions truthfully and offer nothing more.The raid—no, they would call it an "inspection"—was about to begin.He set down his coffee and walked to the elevator, his footsteps steady on the polished floor. By the time he reached the lobby, the first of the government agents were already inside, fanning out across the ground floor, clipboards in hand, eyes sharp and assessing.The lead agent was a woman in her forti
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