Ashes Of Cairo (The Concordance Series)

When a blackout drill in Cairo spirals into chaos, hundreds die in a stampede. MI6 sent analyst Alexandra Silva to investigate, and she reluctantly transitioned from her desk to field work. She quickly discovers the disaster was no accident. The architect is Sergei Orlov, a Russian strategist who has developed a terrifying new weapon: the ability to trigger panic with precision, collapsing crowds in under sixty seconds.

In Milan, Alexandra uncovers Orlov’s financial fingerprints in shell corporations. In London, they dismissed her warnings as paranoia. Forced to rely on herself, she travels to Cairo where she is joined by Michael Foster, a jaded field operative, and Amal Hassan, a local intelligence contact still grieving her brother’s death in a bread queue.

Together, the trio witness Orlov’s “arithmetic of fear” firsthand. The trio transforms a hospital evacuation into a killing ground. Orlov records each disaster as “proof of concept” for his buyers. While Alexandra struggles to hold the team together, Michael grows obsessed with finding a shadowy broker known as The Pasha, and Amal channels her grief into an increasingly personal vendetta.

The trail leads to Cyprus, where Orlov stages a demonstration for a group of Saudi investors. While Alexandra and Amal close in on the villa where the buyers gather, Michael makes a dangerous bargain with The Pasha for information, putting his loyalty to the mission at risk. In Cyprus, Orlov engineers another panic — this time in a bustling market — proving his weapon works anywhere, and that governments are powerless to stop it.

The ultimate confrontation brings all three threads to Alexandria, where Orlov plans his largest “sale” yet. Thousands gather at a stadium, unaware they are part of his ledger. Alexandra realizes the only way to defeat him is to turn his system against itself, redirecting the crowd flow and breaking his arithmetic long enough to prevent mass slaughter. The operation succeeds, but Orlov escapes into the shadows, leaving Silva and her fractured team alive but scarred.