Chapter 1537
[ 659 words ]
“Zeke, my friend, you’ve really outdone yourself this time. Bringing us such an exceptional batch of test subjects.”
Zeke remained utterly silent.
In the past, he had only ever delivered the occasional stray hiker or arrogant trekker who ignored his warnings. Their lives meant nothing to him, so he had easily handed them over to Kael’s team.
The facility required a steady stream of subjects, and he was happy to oblige.
But this situation was entirely different. He was just grateful that he and Kael’s men still had a tacit understanding.
With both sides now holding hostages, the standoff was balanced on a knife’s edge. Nobody knew how this bloodbath would end.
Zeke’s face was a mask of cold stone. “They aren’t hostages unless you can actually keep them detained.”
If they failed to hold the line, the entire syndicate operation would go up in flames.
“You underestimate us,” Kael sneered, giving a subtle nod to one of his operatives. The man immediately began to slip into the shadows.
“Where exactly do you think he’s going?” Silas’s voice cut through the cavern as he leveled his rifle directly at the retreating operative.
“I don’t believe my men’s movements are any of your concern, are they?” Kael replied, completely unfazed.
He had a row of restrained soldiers as leverage, while the Solenians only had Zeke.
Furthermore, the warriors of Sundara were perfectly willing to die for their cause. Fear was not a factor.
“What your men do is absolutely my concern when you’re running an illegal black- site laboratory on Solenian soil.”
“You didn’t honestly believe you were going to walk out of The Aila Highlands alive, did you?”
Silas directed his words at Kael, radiating a cold, lethal authority.
Ironically, Kael was thinking the exact same thing.
Kael intended to slaughter every Solenian in the cave, and Silas fully intended to leave no Sundaran breathing.
“This is Solenia. It might be the border, but it’s still our sovereign territory. You managed to slink in like rats, but you aren’t leaving.”
“There is zero satellite coverage in these mountains. Don’t try to bluff and say you’ve already called in an extraction team.”
Silas offered a chilling smile. “Are you really so certain I don’t have my own methods of communication?”
That eerie, confident smile sent a spike of genuine dread through Kael.
Did this bastard actually find a way to broadcast a signal?
Sundaran inte had run countless topographical tests on this region. The magnetic interference made even advanced radio
How could he have possiblyo contacted the outside world so quickly?
communications nearly im net
“You’re bluffing!”
Kael spat, though his certainty was fracturing.
Silas merely stared at him with dead eyes. “Do you have any idea who I am?” Who?
Just another Solenian military grunt. Their tactical gear and disciplined posture made it obvious. Did it even matter?
Kael already knew Officer Miller perfectly well, thanks to Zeke’s extensive reports.
Miller was a brawler who had crawled his way up the ranks through blood and sweat, devoid of any high-level political backing.
But assuming Miller had zero connections was a fatal error.
Silas Carl was precisely that high-level connection, operating deep in the shadows.
Kael’s sheer arrogance had blinded him. He had never bothered to run a background check on the incoming rescue team.
With Zeke manipulating the terrain, the syndicate believed they were invincible.
Miller had trusted the guide implicitly, walking blindly into a slaughterhouse.
“Who are you?” Kael demanded, forcing his bravado, though a cold sweat began to prickle at his neck.
“Silas Carl. Special Security Department.”
The name of the department alone
carried a
terrifying weight. It was the
apex intelligence agency tasked with violently eradicating threats
Solenian national security
Clandestine foreign black sites running human experiments fell entirely within their jurisdiction.
Operatives from Special Security possessed unilateral authority to execute threats on sight, without trial.
And this man’s surname was Carl.
He was the primary heir of the Carl family, the most ruthless political dynasty in Cabinda, and the fiercely protected eldest grandson of the family’s patriarch.
“The Carls of Cabinda!” Kael wasn’t concerned with public celebrities, but the classified dossiers of Solenia’s true power players were permanently burned into his memory
If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.