Chapter 17 - The Warning SignalThe afternoon sun dipped below the horizon, casting long, bruised shadows across the cobblestone courtyard of Alistair’s estate. Inside the study, the heavy oak doors were bolted shut.
Alistair sat at his desk, reviewing architectural blueprints for the new community kitchen expansions, when a sharp, rhythmic tapping sound echoed against the reinforced glass of his window.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Alistair’s hand instantly dropped to the tactical holster beneath his desk. He stood up silently, creeping toward the floor-to-ceiling windows.
He pulled back the velvet drape.
Clinging to the outer window ledge was a small, scorched piece of paper wrapped around a lead weight. Written hastily across the paper in jagged, familiar handwriting were three words:
THEY ARE COMING.
Alistair’s breath hitched. He unlocked the window, shoved it open, and scanned the empty courtyard below. The gardens were dead silent, save for the wind rustling through the iron gates. But etched into the stone pillar near the gate was a fresh, ominous symbol: a crossed silver dagger—the hallmark of the Syndicate’s most lethal splinter cell, the Black Vipers.
“Viktor!” Alistair shouted into his collar communicator, his voice ringing with razor-sharp urgency. “Code Black! Red alert across the perimeter!”
Static hissed back through the radio.
“Boss? Boss, come in—”
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A sudden, violent explosion rocked the northern sector of the estate, shattering the night silence with a blinding flash of orange fire and rolling thunder.
The war for survival had just entered its final, bloodiest phase.
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