His Dangerous Love On Ice Chapter 111: Zane's Pov

"What did you find?" I didn't look at him. My eyes were still trained on the warehouse in the distance.

"First off, I survived," he said, like I was supposed to congratulate him. "Second, Alonso is more than he seems. He's working on something big. And he's not alone. He's either working with someone or for someone."

That got my attention. I turned to look at him. "With someone or for someone. Those are two very different things."

"Exactly." Max nodded, wiping sweat off his forehead. "If he's working with someone, they're partners. Equals. But if he's working for someone? That means there's someone above him pulling the strings. And that's a hell of a lot more dangerous."

I processed that. My mind was already running through possibilities, enemies, people who might want to come after me. The list was long. Too long.

"Were you able to tap into their conversation?"

Max shook his head. "Not directly. The walls were soundproof, reinforced. But I brought my vibro-acoustic interceptor." He pulled a large metal box out of his bag, looking way too proud of himself. "This baby bypassed their counter-surveillance entirely by reading structural resonance. Basically, I could pick up vibrations through the walls."

"But?"

"But it nearly got me caught. I grabbed about three minutes of audio before an alert went off. They knew someone was listening."

He pressed a button on the device, and static filled the car. At first, it was just noise, garbled and distorted. Then slowly, words started breaking through. Fragments of sentences. Muffled voices.

Max grabbed a pen and started scribbling down what he could make out.

I sat there, silent, listening. And then I heard it.

Alonso's voice.

It was the same voice he used with me in the game. Cold. Calculated. Nothing like the charming tone he used around Olive. He'd been playing us. Playing me.

Max pulled off his headphones and looked at me. "One word stood out. 'Resonance.' It was mentioned six times in three minutes."

I pulled off my own headphones and leaned back in my seat. My chest felt tight. A memory was clawing its way to the surface, one I'd been trying to bury for over ten years.

"Resonance is an operation," I said quietly. My voice was flat, emotionless, because if I let any feeling in, I'd lose it.

Max's eyes went wide. "An operation? Like… military?"

I didn't answer right away. My hands were clenched into fists, nails digging into my palms.

"They're trying to bring something down. That's stage one of Resonance."

Max turned to stare at me, and I could see the realization dawning on his face. "They know you were in the military."

The words hung in the air between us.

No one knew about my time in the military. No one except a select few. And no one in the military knew I'd survived it.

But someone knew. Someone was using that information against me.

"We need to find out what stage one is," Max said, his voice urgent now. "We can't let it happen."

I shook my head. A plan was already forming. "Did they see your face?"

"No. I was wearing a mask."

"Good." I turned the ignition, and the engine rumbled to life. "Whatever stage one is, it won't be a direct attack on me. Not yet. They're still testing the waters."

Max looked confused. "So what do we do?"

"We let stage one happen."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"We let it play out," I said, pulling onto the road. "They're just getting started. But what they don't know is that we already know their code name. That gives us the upper hand."

I slammed on the accelerator, and Max gripped the door handle, his face pale.

"So what do you want me to do? What about Alonso?"

"Intercept every call he's made in the past month. Find out who he's been talking to. And track these license plates." I sent him the video I'd recorded of the three cars leaving the warehouse.

His phone chimed. He looked down at it, then back at me. "How did you get their plate numbers?"

I smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Have you forgotten who I am?"

Max stared at me for a long moment, then slowly shook his head.

"No, Boss. I haven't."

Good. Because I was done playing defense.

It was time to go on the attack.