Chapter 10

Alexander pulled a thin, leather-bound tablet from inside his coat. He tapped the glass screen once and turned it toward me. 

“My risk intelligence division monitors large-scale industrial transactions across the northern territory Alexander said, his eyes watching every micro-expression on my face. “Over the last forty-eight hours, a newly registered corporate shell named Evelyn Reserve has executed nearly twenty million dollars in sudden, heavy- cash contracts.” 

He began reading off the screen, his voice flat and precise. 

“Fifty tons of bulk grain and flour delivered to an unmonitored dock warehouse. Three million dollars cash for an abandoned government cold-storage facility. Five million dollars advanced to Apex Solutions for two hundred industrial diesel generators, four eight-hundred-foot deep-bedrock wells, double-walled fuel bladders, and five- inch solid steel blast doors.” 

Alexander paused, sliding the tablet back into his coat. He took two steps closer until he was standing right in front of me, his shadow falling over my shoulders. 

“You are buying enough high-grade survival equipment, power infrastructure, and food reserves to sustain a small military battalion through a multi-year siege,” Alexander said softly, his grey eyes piercing straight into mine. “And you are doing it completely under the radar, paying double market rates in upfront cash, using an offshore account that cleared less than twenty-four hours ago.” 

“Is there a crime in buying private property, Commander?” I asked smoothly. “Last time I checked, spending my own legal inheritance isn’t a violation of state law.”