Chapter 91: Forty-Eight Hours

After Commander Derrick and his squad took off around two in the afternoon to clear the rift, Evren didn’t leave the port right away. He spent the next hour and a half touring the facility with Harlen and Flint.

They walked the full length of Pier 4, watching the four massive cranes lift twenty thousand tons of alloy ore out of the Sea-Goliath’s holds.

Behind the docks, Harlen showed Evren the automated rail terminal.

"These heavy cargo tracks run straight through the western mountain pass," Harlen explained, pointing down the twin steel rails. "Before Prescott locked the gates, this line moved raw ore directly from the Sector One mines to the Sector Three and Four foundries, and brought refined metal back here for international export. It’s the entire lifeblood of the province."

"Good," Evren said. "Apex owns the mines, the foundries, and this port now. Make sure the locomotives are serviced and running by tomorrow morning."

"Consider it done, Chairman," Harlen grinned.

Before leaving, Evren stopped by the harbor medical clinic to check on the two wounded security guards from the freighter.

Both men were awake in clean hospital beds with their shoulders stitched and bandaged. Evren personally told the clinic doctor to cover all their medical bills, and informed both guards that they were being transferred to Apex Guild’s payroll with full benefits once they healed.

The two men could barely find the words to thank him.

By three-thirty, Derrick radioed.

"Chairman," Derrick’s deep voice came through the speaker. "Apex strike team reporting from sixty meters down. The trench is cleared."

"Give me the brief, Derrick," Evren said, standing near the clinic exit.

"Descent took twenty minutes," Derrick reported cleanly. "We located the submerged rift fissure at sixty-two meters. Found about twenty scuttlers guarding the core nest. The team formed a tight defensive perimeter, breached their carapaces with pneumatic harpoons, and blew the core with a shaped mana charge. The fissure collapsed and sealed. Zero casualties. All ten operators are on the boat heading back to the pier."

Amber, standing beside Evren in her navy coat, nodded with a faint smile. "Clean work."

"Good job, Derrick," Evren said. "Secure the gear and take the team back to Horizon Plaza."

"Understood, Chairman. Out."

The radio clicked off.

Mikay grinned from where he stood. "Aside from your solo clears, that’s our first official independent guild mission logged on the Central Bureau server, Boss. Completed in under forty-five minutes with zero injuries. That record is going to look incredible on our annual guild rating."

"It’s only the beginning," Evren murmured.

Mikay checked his watch, looking up from his tablet. "It’s three-forty, Boss. We should head out. Mayor Henderson’s staff have already verified the roster at City Hall, and the fifty million dollars in escrow is ready for disbursement."

Evren nodded. "Let’s go."

—

Ten minutes later, the car pulled up to the government district.

The plaza in front of City Hall was packed. Over two thousand people stood in the cold wind between the stone steps and the fountain.

Most of them wore worn coats, stained jackets, and muddy boots.

These were Prescott’s old victims.

They included injured miners on crutches from Sector One, factory workers with arm burn scars from the foundries, and widows holding young children close against the cold afternoon wind.

When the black car stopped, the crowd went quiet and stepped aside respectfully.

Evren and Amber stepped out.

Mayor Henderson hurried down the steps to greet them, wearing a dark suit. Beside him was Director Keller of the Metropolis Commerce Bureau, holding a thick folder.

"Chairman Evren, Miss Amber," Henderson said warmly, shaking Evren’s hand with both hands of his. "The turnout is even larger than we estimated. Over two thousand families have been verified through hospital records and tax archives. Every single one of them was denied compensation or blacklisted by Prescott’s old management."

"No one gets turned away today, Mayor," Evren said.

Evren walked up the stone steps toward the wooden stage where microphones and four banking desks were set up and staffed by city clerks.

Amber stood beside him.

The crowd went completely quiet; two thousand pairs of tired, anxious eyes looked up at the young man, waiting.

Henderson stepped to the mic first.

"Citizens of Veridia," Henderson’s voice echoed through the speakers. "For years, the workers of our mines and foundries were told that their suffering was simply the cost of doing business. Today, that injustice ends. Chairman Evren of Apex Conglomerate has established the Apex Sovereign Relief Foundation to make every broken family whole."

Henderson stepped back and nodded to Evren.

Evren stepped to the mic and looked out over the crowd.

"I won’t waste your time with long speeches," Evren said calmly. "You did the hardest work in this city, and you got treated like trash. When you were injured, you were discarded. That stops today."

He pointed to the desks behind him.

"Every verified injured worker gets an immediate ten-thousand-dollar emergency check," Evren said. "Families who lost someone get the same. Disabled workers get a lifetime monthly pension and free medical care at St. Jude."

Evren paused. "Your debts are done. Come get your money."

For a second, nobody moved.

A low murmur rippled through the crowd before quickly swelling into a roar of emotion.

An old miner with an amputated left hand and grey hair broke down in tears, dropping his cane as his son caught him. Widows hugged their kids, sobbing.

"Desks are open!" Keller called out.

The line began to move forward orderly.

Evren personally stood at the center desk with Mayor Henderson, handing out the printed checks while clerks confirmed the bank transfers.

"Thank you, Chairman... thank you," a woman cried, clutching the envelope to her chest. Her husband had died in a mine collapse two years ago, leaving her with three children and fifteen thousand dollars in medical debt. "God bless you..."

"Take care of your family," Evren told her.

The distribution took about an hour. Over two thousand families walked away with their checks in hand.

By late afternoon, the courtyard was clearing out, with people still cheering and shouting Evren’s name.

"That was incredible, Chairman," Henderson sighed, wiping his forehead. "You have done more for this city’s working class in one afternoon than the government managed in a decade."

"It had to be done," Evren said.

"Come inside to my private office," Henderson said. "We just need your signature to seal the foundation deed with City Council."

Evren, Amber, and Mikay followed Henderson down the marble hallway to his private conference room.

Henderson pushed the double doors open.

"Make yourselves comfortable, I’ll have my secretary bring the final ledger..."

Henderson stopped dead in his tracks.

Sitting around the long conference table were three men in tailored gray suits. Behind them, standing by the windows, were four armed federal marshals with sidearms on their belts.

Each man in a suit wore a silver-and-black lapel pin: the twin-headed eagle scale of the Imperial Financial Crimes & Anti-Money Laundering Enforcement Directorate.

The man at the head of the table looked up.

He was in his late fifties, with slicked-back gray hair, cold pale-blue eyes, and gold-rimmed glasses. On the table in front of him was an open briefcase and a thick folder sealed with red wax.

Mayor Henderson’s face went completely white. "What is the meaning of this? This is a restricted executive office! Who authorized you to enter my chambers?"

The gray-haired man closed his pen with a click and stood up.

"Mayor Henderson, step aside," the man said calmly. "Your authority does not extend to matters of imperial economic security. I am Senior Auditor Jonathan Meles. Imperial Financial Crimes and Anti-Money Laundering."

Meles looked right past the mayor and locked his eyes on Evren.

"Chairman Evren," Meles said. "We have been tracking your financial activity for the last thirty days."

Mikay immediately stepped up. "I’m Director of Operations for Apex Conglomerate. If this is regarding our foundation or the Prescott acquisition, every dollar was cleared through standard banking protocols..."

"Quiet," Meles said, not even looking at him.

Meles leaned on the table, staring at Evren.

"Just over a month ago, you were delivering food on a scooter in the slums, making less than twelve grand a year," Meles said in a flat voice. "You had forty-two dollars in your checking account."

Meles tapped the thick folder.

"But in the last few weeks, over one point two billion dollars in cash moved through your accounts. You bought office towers, an estate, foundries, and handed out nine million dollars in cash on a dock like pocket change."

Meles slid a stamped document across the table. It stopped right in front of Evren.

At the top was the red seal of the Imperial High Court.

"Over a hundred flagged transactions," Meles said coldly. "No business history. No corporate books. No taxes paid. Nothing."

He met Evren’s eyes.

"A formal complaint was filed with the High Court. You are being investigated for money laundering, smuggling rift cores, and massive tax fraud."

Beside Evren, Amber’s fingers twitched toward her side.

Evren raised a hand, stopping her.

He looked down at the paper on the table.

"As of right now," Meles said with a faint sneer, "the Imperial Court has placed a freeze on all accounts tied to Apex and your name. You have forty-eight hours to show us clean, legal proof of where every single dollar came from."

Meles stood tall, putting his hands behind his back.

"Fail to do that, Chairman Evren... and the Imperial Treasury takes everything."