Chapter Summaries

Lin Feng and Old Johnson inspected Eagle Creek Ranch, negotiated a preliminary purchase agreement, and parted on friendly terms. Lin Feng’s convoy headed back to Seattle, where their legal teams would finalize the deal in a week.

• Old Johnson guided Lin Feng and his team through inspections of Eagle Creek Ranch’s utilities, boundaries, and buildings.
• K presented a valuation range below Old Johnson’s asking price, and the two sides negotiated the sale price and terms.
• Lin Feng and Old Johnson reached a preliminary agreement, with a formal contract planned for Seattle one week later.
• Lin Feng and his party celebrated with the Johnson family, then departed Eagle Creek the following morning.
• K reported the family’s background check, and Lin Feng ordered strict contract review and discreet monitoring of the Johnson Family Clan.

Kong Xiang told Lin Feng and K that coworker Mike had repeatedly harassed and insulted him during his temporary job at the Seattle Police Department’s Criminalistics Division. After Chen Qiming forced Mike to apologize, Kong Xiang feared Mike would retaliate, and Lin Feng said he would handle the matter.

• Kong Xiang explained that his adviser had helped him get a temporary evidence-analysis job at the Seattle Police Department’s Criminalistics Division.
• Mike repeatedly mocked Kong Xiang’s work habits, background, accent, and food, and disrupted his work over several days.
• When Mike insulted Kong Xiang’s lunch and blocked him from leaving, Chen Qiming intervened and ordered Mike to apologize.
• Kong Xiang accepted Mike’s grudging apology but later warned Lin Feng and K that Mike seemed intent on revenge.
• Lin Feng told Kong Xiang to stay alert at the police department and said he would handle the problem.

Kong Xiang told Lin Feng that Mike had framed him for contaminating drug evidence, leaving him suspended and under investigation after surveillance failed and fingerprints appeared inside the evidence bag. Lin Feng ordered K to contact Roger and produce results before noon the next day.

• Kong Xiang rushed to Lin Feng’s safe house and described how evidence bag N-774 was damaged while he was briefly away from the lab.
• The lab’s surveillance footage for the key interval was corrupted, and investigators found Kong Xiang’s fingerprints on the bag’s seal and inner wall.
• Internal Affairs suspended Kong Xiang, took his access card, and questioned him over the suspected destruction of evidence.
• Kong Xiang showed Lin Feng copies of the investigation report and said Mike had recently helped an outside IT company inspect the server.
• Lin Feng told K to contact Roger and get results before noon the next day.

Lin Feng ordered Roger to clear Kong Xiang’s name and investigate Mike Rawlins, who had framed him by tampering with evidence and the police storage system. Mike was arrested and dismissed, Kong Xiang was reinstated, and Lin Feng learned that the Walton family’s reach might extend into the affair.

• Lin Feng told K to have Roger remove Mike Rawlins and clear Kong Xiang’s name before dawn.
• Roger led an emergency IAD search of Mike’s workstation and locker, where investigators found materials used to plant fingerprints.
• IAD recovered server logs linking Mike’s account and terminal to the storage failure, then arrested and dismissed him for suspected evidence tampering and framing Kong Xiang.
• Roger withdrew the accusations against Kong Xiang and ordered his position and access privileges restored.
• Kong Xiang received official notice of his reinstatement, while Lin Feng learned that the Walton family’s influence might be connected to the matter.

K discovered that the Johnson Family Clan had hidden clauses in the Eagle Creek Ranch contract that could let them trigger a default, reclaim the land, and keep Lin Feng’s $28 million down payment. Lin Feng concluded that the deal was a deliberate fraud and ordered K to call Old Johnson.

• K presented Lin Feng with the legal team’s findings about traps in appendices seven and eleven of the ranch agreement.
• K explained that the Johnsons could use environmental assessments, manipulated soil tests, and local courts to force a default and confiscate the ranch payments.
• K told Lin Feng that the $28 million down payment was in escrow and due to be released to the sellers the following week.
• Lin Feng agreed that the Johnson Family Clan had planned a commercial fraud against him, an outsider.
• Lin Feng ordered K to call Old Johnson.

Lin Feng called Old Johnson to challenge deceptive clauses in the Eagle Creek Ranch contract, but Old Johnson mocked and threatened him while revealing that the Johnson family and Emily had deliberately deceived him. Lin Feng remained outwardly calm and ordered K to let ABZ get to work.

• Lin Feng called Old Johnson to discuss unclear terms in the ranch agreement and propose a supplementary agreement.
• Old Johnson rejected the proposal, insulted Lin Feng, and admitted that the contract contained traps and that he had used Emily to help deceive him.
• Old Johnson threatened to keep the ranch and said Lin Feng would lose if he sued in Skagit County Court.
• After Old Johnson hung up, Lin Feng handed the phone to K and studied the marked contract.
• Lin Feng told K to let ABZ get to work.

After Old Johnson betrayed Lin Feng, Lin Feng ordered ABZ to carry out a thorough cleanup of the Johnson family before sunrise. K activated the team and prepared its operation as Lin Feng waited for the attack to unfold.

• Lin Feng studied the contract after Old Johnson ended the call and ordered K to have ABZ do its work.
• K activated ABZ through a concealed console and issued orders to target the Johnson family at Eagle Creek Ranch.
• K synchronized surveillance and operation data, then checked local police activity and expected response times.
• K reported that ABZ was moving toward the ranch under radio silence, and Lin Feng told him to keep it clean.

The Johnson family celebrated the twenty-eight million dollars they had obtained through a rigged contract, mocking Lin Feng and boasting that their local influence would protect them. Their feast turned into a violent attack on Eagle Creek Ranch, ending with a rocket-propelled grenade exploding inside the main house.

• Old Johnson toasted the money and recounted how he had refused Lin Feng’s request to renegotiate the contract.
• Emily admitted she had feigned affection for Lin Feng to help her family deceive him, while the Johnsons planned how to spend their windfall.
• Gunfire erupted near the ranch entrance, and Hank reported that armed attackers in black were shooting everyone before his radio went silent.
• Old Johnson ordered his family to flee to the basement, but a rocket-propelled grenade smashed through the living-room window and exploded.
• The blast engulfed the Johnson family and the main house in flames.

Armed attackers in black uniforms stormed Eagle Creek Ranch, killing its guards and advancing on the main house. Old Johnson tried to lead his family to the basement safe room, but an RPG struck the house and engulfed the living room in an explosion.

• Gunfire erupted around Eagle Creek Ranch, and Old Johnson realized armed attackers were raiding the property.
• Old Johnson called Hank over the intercom, and Hank reported that masked attackers had overwhelmed the guards before his transmission ended in a scream.
• Old Johnson ordered his family to flee to the basement safe room while he grabbed a Winchester M1894 rifle.
• Luke spotted an RPG flying toward the main house, and Old Johnson recognized it too late to escape.
• The RPG exploded in the living room, engulfing the Johnson family and setting the house ablaze as masked attackers watched from the wooded hills.

ABZ operatives arrived at Eagle Creek Ranch after the explosion and systematically cleared the burning ruins, killing any survivors and confirming the Johnson Family Clan had been wiped out. They destroyed evidence and withdrew before Skagit County law enforcement reached the ranch, leaving the authorities to find the blazing wreckage and bodies.

• The ABZ leader divided eleven operatives into teams that secured the ranch and entered the burning main house.
• The operatives searched the ruins, examined the charred bodies, and fired finishing shots to ensure no one survived.
• ABZ operatives cleared the connected rooms and surrounding ranch, reporting dead armed guards, patrol occupants, and no other survivors.
• The leader ordered a final check, and an operative destroyed the smoking patrol pickup to remove traces of ABZ.
• The ABZ teams withdrew in three unmarked SUVs as police and fire engine sirens approached.
• An hour later, the first Skagit County sheriff's pickup arrived and found the ranch still burning and bodies scattered across the property.

After the Johnson family massacre, distant nephew Kevin Johnson sold Eagle Creek Ranch to Quiet Creek Capital, secretly controlled by Lin Mo. Lin Feng arrived to oversee the ranch’s reconstruction as a heavily fortified property, where new construction began under his command.

• Authorities confirmed that the Johnson family members and three employees had died, and the ranch passed to distant relative Kevin Johnson.
• Kevin Johnson sold Eagle Creek Ranch cheaply to Quiet Creek Capital, whose beneficial controller was Lin Mo.
• Lin Feng visited the cleared ranch with K, Lü Yi, and Kong Xiang as workers installed fences, lookout towers, and security infrastructure.
• K reported that construction was underway, Kevin’s payment and liability waiver were settled, and investigators had found no substantial leads connecting the new owners to the massacre.
• Lin Feng ordered construction to proceed to the highest security standards and declared the ranch would be built like a fortress.

Ghost, led by Butcher, tracked Lin Mo in Seattle and learned that his guards were the formidable Blood Spear mercenary group. After Old Walton offered five times the fee, Butcher continued the assassination mission and ordered deeper surveillance for an extreme-range sniper attack.

• Butcher’s team monitored Lin Mo’s convoy and confirmed that he traveled with several guards, including his assistant K.
• Ledger identified Lin Mo’s security detail as Blood Spear and warned that the assassination risk was extremely high.
• Butcher told Old Walton that Ghost could renegotiate or abandon the mission, but Walton offered five times the fee and demanded Lin Mo’s death.
• Butcher accepted the mission on the condition that Ghost had time for further reconnaissance and would avoid close contact.
• Butcher ordered Painter, Whisper, and Ledger to investigate Lin Mo’s routine, surveillance vulnerabilities, and possible sniper positions around the Pan-Pacific Ocean Center.

Painter surveilled Lin Feng’s movements outside the Pan-Pacific Ocean Center, but an orchestrated café brawl gave an Asian waiter and two accomplices cover to kill and remove him. The Ghost team’s observer died before he could record Lin Feng’s return to his vehicle.

• Painter watched the building’s vehicle entrance from a café and recorded Lin Feng’s guarded departure from an Escalade.
• Two Black men started a loud argument that drew the café customers’ attention and disrupted Painter’s surveillance.
• An Asian waiter approached Painter while the commotion concealed him from the other customers.
• The waiter cut Painter’s throat as two accomplices restrained him and dragged him toward an unmarked van.
• The waiter wiped away evidence, collected Painter’s coffee and newspaper, and returned to the café while the argument continued.

Mole confirmed that K and Lin Feng had entered Mofeng Capital’s 23rd floor at 2:39 p.m. and prepared to report to Painter, but an ambush stopped him before he could leave the building.

• Mole followed K, Lin Feng, and their Blood Spear guards to the VIP elevator and confirmed that they reached the 23rd floor.
• Mole posed as a Pulitzer Company repairman, and the receptionist confirmed Mofeng Capital was on the 23rd floor but denied any service request.
• As Mole headed for the exit, an office worker stabbed him in the abdomen while passing.
• Two cleaners struck Mole with a pipe wrench, hid him in a trash can, and injected him with a paralyzing agent.
• The cleaners pushed the cart carrying Mole through a service door while a guard let them pass.

Whisper discovered that Painter and Mole had been taken out and cut off Ghost’s communications before destroying the team’s data and trying to escape his safe house. He was captured in an alley by a coordinated team, leaving Ghost’s remaining situation unknown.

• Whisper saw surveillance footage indicating Painter had been restrained and injured, while Mole’s feed showed he was in danger.
• Whisper activated the emergency silence protocol, severed the agents’ connections, and physically destroyed the surveillance equipment and data.
• Whisper tried to leave through a hole blasted in the wall and escape down the building’s fire escape.
• Attackers struck Whisper with tranquilizer darts, incapacitated him, and carried him away in a garbage bin.
• A gloved hand retrieved Whisper’s Glock 19 from the alley while the smoke cleared from his abandoned room.

Butcher and his last two core team members, Anvil and Razor, were trapped in their safe house after their reconnaissance network went silent. An assault left Anvil dead, Razor wounded, and Butcher killed by an anti-materiel rifle as he tried to escape through a secret passage.

• Butcher, Anvil, and Razor debated abandoning the safe house after Painter, Mole, and Whisper disappeared.
• Someone knocked at the safe-house door, and Butcher ordered Anvil to roll a grenade outside.
• A PKM opened fire through the door, killing Anvil and wounding Razor while Butcher took cover.
• Butcher crawled toward the bedroom and opened the concealed passage to the apartment below.
• An anti-materiel round tore through the bedroom wall and killed Butcher as he prepared to descend.
• The attackers kicked open the front door after Butcher's death.

After a professional team eliminated the killers sent by the Walton Family, Lin Feng learned how the attack had been stopped and ordered a broad offensive against the family. He left K to mobilize their intelligence and security forces as the counterattack began.

• A sniper and spotter confirmed their target was dead, removed their equipment and evidence, and withdrew from the rooftop.
• K reported that the Waltons had escalated from commercial conflict and arson to hiring killers, and that Golden Sun’s intelligence team had detected and eliminated them with Blood Spear providing perimeter support.
• Lin Feng decided to stop responding defensively and ordered a campaign to dismantle the Walton Family’s power, reputation, and network from within.
• Lin Feng ordered a comprehensive investigation of Richard Walton, Brandon, and the family’s associates, with Golden Sun’s intelligence team leading the effort and the ABZ Team and their silent friends available to assist.
• Lin Feng raised Blood Spear’s security alert, ordered increased protection for Eagle Creek Ranch and their Seattle locations, and told K to begin the operation immediately.

Lin Feng’s coordinated raids on the Walton Family’s Bellevue estate, Heather Manor, and Brandon Walton’s former hospital suite all failed to find their targets, who had been moved in advance. Lin Feng dismissed the failure as expected and ordered K to continue with their plan on a slower, more concealed front.

• A and B searched the Walton Family’s Bellevue estate but found Old Walton and his family absent, then withdrew without being detected.
• Attackers stormed Heather Manor, killed guards, and searched the house, but Old Walton and his family were not there.
• Two men searched Brandon Walton’s former hospital suite and found it empty, confirming that he had been moved.
• K reported the results of all three operations to Lin Feng in the safe house study.
• Lin Feng told K to continue according to plan, shifting focus away from direct attacks toward a slower, concealed campaign.

K ordered his financial team to launch a short attack on Northwest Logistics Group (NLG), promising a billion dollars in capital and hinting that a product problem would soon provide a catalyst. The team began building strategies and analyzing NLG as the operation got underway.

• K gathered the traders and announced that Northwest Logistics Group was their sole new target for a short attack.
• Richard Thorne questioned the plan, citing NLG’s strong fundamentals, ties to major banks, and lack of a damaging catalyst.
• K revealed that the team would have one billion dollars to deploy and said NLG’s products would soon have a problem.
• K ordered the team to analyze NLG and design short-selling strategies aimed at rapidly collapsing its stock price.
• Thorne assigned research tasks to the traders, who returned to their stations and began preparing the attack.

Chief Thomas Harris confronted Deputy Chief Jonathan Miller, who was secretly Roger wearing his skin, over reports classifying recent armed attacks as an ABZ Team gang shootout. Thomas left after realizing Jonathan was blocking any investigation implicating the Walton Family, and Jonathan summoned the detective handling the ABZ case to revise the reports.

• Thomas stormed into Jonathan’s office and condemned his reports on Seattle shootings, explosions, and an attack in Snohomish County.
• Jonathan defended the gang-shootout classification as the most reasonable explanation supported by the available evidence and warned Thomas against framing the Walton Family.
• Thomas weighed the political risks of challenging Jonathan and his backers, then took the reports and left without pursuing the argument.
• After Thomas departed, Jonathan called for the detective in charge of the ABZ case to polish details in the arrest and interrogation report for a minor boss.