CHAPTER 1: THE BLOCKADE AT LANE FOUR The fluorescent tubes overhead didn’t just illuminate the linoleum; they buzzed with a low, persistent frequency that vibrated right through the soles of Marcus’s work boots. Twelve hours on the concrete floor at the regional distribution depot had left his lower back radiating a dull, familiar ache, but…
CHAPTER 1: THE TOLL AT AISLE 4 “You’re not moving this cart another inch,” Brenda announced, her arm locked across the metal display rack like a toll gate. The fluorescent bulbs overhead hummed with a low, sixty-cycle whine that seemed to vibrate directly inside Marcus Holloway’s skull. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t jerk the metal…
CHAPTER 1: THE ACCUSATION AT THE THRESHOLD The steel wheel of a heavy mobile clothes rack screeched against polished tile as a gold-ringed hand rammed the frame straight into Elena’s hip, pinning her navy scrubs against the display wall. “You don’t get to slide past the queue just because you’re wearing scrubs, honey,” a booming…
CHAPTER 1: THE SILENT GATE “Hold the load right there!” Brenda Hollings shouted, her voice cutting through the heavy diesel pulse of the triple-axle dump truck idling on St. Jude Lane. Julian Mercer did not rush down his porch steps. He paused on the bottom riser, the morning air carrying the sharp, familiar scent of…