Chapter 5
1255 Words
About the same time, Lord Kramer was busy with his assistants in his home office.
“Attacks are growing at our locations,” Sandy, his lead P.A., reported tightly as he stood before his Master.
“What are they using?” Lord Edward Kramer’s voice was low.
“Junster, Sir. Untraceable,” Ruben chimed in, the quietest of his three closest aides.
“How can that be?” Lord Kramer snapped, blue eyes moving between the two men.
“No one has reported any missing stock, and the shards we find are too small for any real analysis,” Ruben continued evenly.
“So, it's black-market goods,” Edward shot back, his eyes widening. It was not a question.
“Yes, Sir,” Ruben responded.
Edward’s brow furrowed as his gaze fixed on Sandy. “Why now?!” he complained, his voice getting more heated.
“Maybe it’s because we’re so close on the deal with our foreign friends. But it will all die down once we sign the contract,” Sandy replied steadily, taking the hint from his Master's intense stare.
“How long has it been going on?” Edward all but snarled.
“About a month now,” Sandy replied.
Lord Kramer gritted his teeth. “And there is no pattern?” he rumbled.
“None, Sir. From Ashrone to the end of the continent, we’ve had a total of fifty attacks in the past month. It grows more aggressive, like their stock of Junster keeps increasing,” Sandy explained, his eyes shifting from his Master to a hand-held device.
“Damn it!” Edward barked.
“Sir, we should focus on increasing security at our most important mining sites,” Ruben stated, taking over from the lightly perspiring Sandy.
“What of the damages? The impact on our production numbers?” Lord Kramer shot at Ruben.
“I have that here, Sir,” Lance, his third P.A., said smoothly, handing his Master an electronic file.
“And the workers?” Lord Kramer asked distractedly as he took the device.
“Sir, these locations are fully automated. Tech only,” Lance continued, taking over from his colleagues whose faces had become drawn, though their voices remained calm and clear.
“So, it’s the humanist fascist movement? On MY sites?” Edward stated incredulously as he read the data in his hands.
“No, Sir, it’s not them. They don’t use violence,” Lance replied confidently.
“Then terrorists? Attacking Kramer property?” Edward shot back, his eyes snapping to Lance and narrowing.
“The hits are too clean, Sir, and there is no chatter in the shadows about who could be doing it or why,” Lance, his key aide on the more clandestine activities of Kramer businesses.
“Then why don’t the three of you prove your worth and tell me what the hell is going on at my plants?!” Lord Kramer bellowed, rising from his large chair and throwing the device Lance had given him on the table.
It held firm. It was a fortified device.
Lord Edward Kramer, however, was also fortified. He punched the device with his ringed fist, and it exploded into pieces.
Lord Kramer, like almost every noble in Ashrone, wore a ‘protection’ gem. Named so for its primary purpose. Protection.
It could be for attack, defense, or both.
It could be to amplify the wearer's strength or conceal it. Or both, as the user required, based on the magic applied to the stone.
Lord Kramer channeled power to his strike, and his gem did the rest.
All his P.A.s fell silent. Edward glowered at them.
“We have three weeks. Three. To seal this contract. I won’t lose it. I won’t allow months of work to go down the drain. And you,” he growled, a long finger pointing round at the younger men standing before his desk, heads bowed and jaws clenched, “will make sure this ant is caught and squashed. Have I made myself clear?!”
“Yes, Sir!” all three aides replied in unison.
“Get out of my sight!” he snarled. The men bowed hurriedly and disappeared.
“You know they can’t do anything about it,” a deep voice rumbled from a blank screen.
Edward tapped a button, and a face appeared.
“With what I pay them, they’d better figure something out.”
“From what you’ve said, the locations are too widespread to be one person. It’s a team of people.”
“Yes, but how do I find users of stolen explosive gems that are supposed to be tightly watched and monitored when I'm working on a deal to sell the exact same gems to my target partners?”
“That’s what I’m saying! There are at least twenty other explosive gems on the market, both above and underground. Why are they using our product?”
Edward bit back the words at the tip of his tongue. Our product? Indeed! He sneered in his mind.
Outwardly, he pursed his lips, his brow furrowing as he rested his chin on his fingers and sat back into his high-backed chair. He gazed away from the person on the screen, his eyes narrow.
“They know…,” Lord Kramer mumbled pensively.
The other person did not speak.
Edward continued. “They’re sending a message,” he breathed, “dangling it in my face that they know what I’m doing.”
His eyes snapped up to the face on the screen. “This deal is secret. It’s still confidential, need to know basis only.”
“Are you trying to say I have a leak on my end?” the other party droned.
“Or they do on theirs,” Edward pushed forward unapologetically, “but if it IS from their end, it should be their property getting attacked, not mine.”
“So…,” Edward paused, his gaze shifting to the side.
The other party was silent again.
“Someone in Ashrone is trying to f**k with Karmer Holdings,” Edward declared, his eyes widening as he turned back to the screen.
“Who would be so bold?” he droned incredulously, a feral smile on his handsome face.
“They’re sneaking around, and you call that bold?” the guest remarked dispassionately.
Edward’s smile shrank, but remained, his eyes bright. “They are too small to face me. No one is big enough to face me,” he rumbled.
The other man held the Lord’s gaze without flinching.
Edward continued.
“They have information on my secret dealings and are using ghost products. So, they have money…or sponsors. And, they are not causing any harm to humans, yet, my business is bleeding. So, I am the target!” Edward Kramer declared softly.
The other man eyed Lord Kramer.
“Someone wants to hurt ME. Someone is attacking ME. Someone has the audacity to strike at what matters the most to me at a crucial time, a key juncture, in my life.”
“It’s personal,” the guest summarized.
“Yes. Quite so,” Lord Kramer droned.
“That’s a long list,” the other man commented flatly.
“But we do have one,” Edward Kramer replied snidely.
“WE do, do we?” the man retorted dryly.
Edward’s gaze shifted back to his guest. He smiled cordially. “Yes. WE.”
The other man sat back, shaking his head lightly as he joined Lord Kramer with a confident smile of his own.
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