The Pursuit of Lithium
The stakes had dramatically escalated. The murder of Dr. Hess, the toxic pollution, and the theft of the Relic were all decoys protecting the ultimate prize: a vast, untapped lithium reserve hidden beneath the Patagonian ice sheet. The final client, Y.A. Chen, was attempting to corner the global market on the future's most critical resource.
Elias, Lena, and Markus landed in the bustling, wind-swept city of Punta Arenas, Chile, the gateway to the vast, unforgiving Patagonian wilderness.
"Chen won't be using corporate jets and skyscrapers here," Elias noted, pulling his coat tight against the icy wind. "She'll use local front companies, deep-pocketed resource teams, and absolute isolation."
Their first task was to find the geographical survey data that Agent K confirmed was now Chen's target—the precise location of the lithium.
Following a thin electronic trail left by one of Chen's shell corporations, Elias found himself at a remote, weather-beaten logistics office near the docks. He wasn't alone.
A man was already there, leaning over a cluttered map table, meticulously highlighting remote coordinates near the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. He was rugged, mid-thirties, and wore high-quality, practical outdoor gear that screamed professional field agent.
"Looking for the new lithium deposits, are we?" Elias asked, keeping his voice neutral.
The man straightened instantly, turning with smooth, trained precision. His eyes were sharp, calculating, and held a familiar intensity.
"You're Elias Vance," the man stated, not asking. "I've been looking for the trio of 'consultants' who nearly collapsed the global market in Singapore. The name's Alex. And I believe we're chasing the same ghost."
Immediate Suspicion
Elias didn't lower his guard. The man knew his name, his team's actions in Singapore, and was already at the target location.
"Your 'ghost' is Y.A. Chen. Which team are you playing for, Alex?" Elias demanded. "Chen doesn't let strangers get this close to her real target."
Alex gave a thin, weary smile. "I'm playing for the team that wants to stop Global Resource Trading from turning the Patagonian ice sheet into a toxic hole. I spent five years tracking Chen through the illicit arms trade. I was finally about to expose her when she pivoted to resources and went completely dark. Your little stunt in Singapore—exposing her funding for Falco—that was my best lead in years."
"Show me your colors," Elias insisted. "Why should I trust a man who tracks me better than I track him?"
Alex sighed, pulling out a battered leather wallet. He didn't show Elias a badge. He showed him a worn photograph of a woman and a young child.
"That's my sister and her daughter. My sister was a scientist. She worked for a mining company that Chen absorbed two years ago," Alex said, his voice flat. "She found evidence of illegal gold leaching in a remote Brazilian watershed. Chen made it look like a tragic accident. I'm not a detective, Vance. I'm a revenge project. And Chen is my target."
The motive was personal, clean, and frighteningly similar to Elias's own quest for justice for Dr. Hess. But the intensity and the professional equipment still screamed Asset. Elias remained cautious.
"You're a long way from Brazil, Alex. And you're wearing equipment that costs more than my annual pension. We'll work together, but I'm watching every move you make."
Alex simply nodded. "Fair enough. But you should know, Chen already has boots on the ground. They are using an ice research outpost as a staging base."
The Satellite Dish
Alex, clearly experienced in deep-field resource espionage, immediately proved his worth. He knew the local satellite comms, the logistics contractors, and the specific kind of heavy drilling equipment Chen would require.
"The survey data isn't in a filing cabinet," Alex explained, pointing to the maps. "It's stored in a high-frequency burst transmission on a private satellite downlink. Chen's team is only downloading the final coordinates now, ensuring maximum secrecy."
They tracked a strange energy signature to a remote, abandoned Argentine research base high in the mountains across the border. Chen's team had occupied the base and activated a powerful, old satellite dish.
"That dish is their umbilical cord," Elias deduced. "They're downloading the data, which will give them the precise location for the drilling operation. If they get the data, we lose them in the ice."
"We can't get there fast enough to stop the download," Lena warned, calculating the distance. "But we can make the data unusable."
Operation: Digital Frost
The new plan was a complex, time-sensitive operation that required Alex's unique skills.
The Ascent: Elias and Alex would take a high-altitude overland route, using Alex's specialized transport, to reach the research base before the download was complete.
The Diversion: Lena and Markus would use their cover identities and Lena's technical skills to create a false grid power surge in the nearest regional town, creating a five-minute window of unstable power at the base.
The Digital Attack: Alex claimed he could exploit the power surge window. His specialized equipment could transmit a highly localized, high-power electromagnetic pulse (EMP) designed not to destroy the dish, but to corrupt the final few seconds of the data transmission. This would render the precise coordinates scrambled and useless.
As they began their treacherous climb toward the abandoned base, Elias watched Alex's every move. Alex was too efficient, too prepared, and his motive, while compelling, felt like the perfect cover. Elias had the Master Key to Chen's finances, but Alex seemed to have the master key to her field operations.
He's either a rogue agent or Chen's cleanest plant yet.
The climb was brutal, silent, and gave Elias no time to dwell on betrayal. The Patagonian wind howled around them, a chilling prelude to the final, desperate confrontation with the Silent Partnership.
The fate of the ice sheet—and perhaps the world's resource balance—depended on the fragile alliance forged in the Patagonian freeze.