A Drug Trade Novel : The Chemist's Edge

In the rust-choked shadows of 1989 Iron Hollow, Zane Holt is a survivor, a 23-year-old drifter with a secret gift: he can sense the purity of any substance with a touch. It’s 1989, and the world’s a fractured mess; Reaganomics has gutted America’s heartland, the Cold War’s dying gasps fuel black-market chaos, and the drug trade sprawls like a hydra from Colombian jungles to Rust Belt ruins. In Iron Hollow, a decaying Ohio steel town, Zane Holt survives on the fringes at 23, armed with a secret: he can sense any substance’s purity with a touch. It’s his edge, testing meth for small-time dealer Marco Delgado as cocaine floods cities and meth festers in the hollows. But when Marco pushes him to cook, promising a lifeline against a rising gang tide; Zane balks. His mother’s overdose seven years back left a scar and a vow: never make the poison that killed her. In a town where the “War on Drugs” is a hollow roar, survival doesn’t care about promises. Iron Hollow’s a battleground in a bigger war. Cartel, A fading mafia clan, FBI agents, CIA shadows, Soviet exiles and biker gangs ; all clawing for a piece of the chaos. Pagers buzz with coded threats, banks crumble under dirty money, and every deal’s a roll of the dice; loyalty’s a myth, and betrayal’s the currency. Zane’s caught in the crossfire, his knack a double-edged blade that paints a target on his back. Refuse Marco, and he’s broke and exposed; step in, and he’s a ghost of his mother’s fate, crafting death in a world that thrives on it. As empires clash and bodies drop, Zane must outwit a game where no crown lasts long, where a deal can crown you one day and bury you the next. Will he carve a path through the wreckage, or join the tally of the fallen? In Iron Hollow’s merciless dance, there’s no middle ground; only winners and the dead. "I will be posting this story on RoyalRoad.com,"