Shadow Contract: The Bodyguard’s War
He was trained to kill, but now he’s got to protect the one person who could bring him down.
Damien Cross is a former black-ops operative who has lived in the shadows ever since a mission went horribly wrong. He’s haunted by betrayal and loss, and now he works as a private security specialist. He is quiet, precise, and a bit cold.
When billionaire Adrian Vale approaches him with a discreet job to protect a civilian woman named Sophia Reed, Damien doesn’t ask questions. That’s just not his style.
But Sophia isn’t your average target. She’s the key to Eclipse, a rogue AI surveillance program that’s buried deep in Vale Industries… and someone powerful wants her dead.
Now, with assassins on his tail, betrayed by his team, and cut off from every ally he ever had, Damien has to do something he’s trained to avoid: trust someone.
With Sophia’s life and the truth hanging in the balance, Damien is plunged into a brutal fight against hidden enemies and the very system he once worked for. Every move he makes brings him closer to danger.
And this time, failure isn’t just about losing his life.
It’s about being silenced.
Forever.
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Chapter: Contact BrokenThe safehouse at the edge of the rail yard felt like a tomb. No power, no windows, and no warmth. Just four cold concrete walls and a steel door that scraped loudly against the floor every time Damien opened it.Since leaving Malek’s compound, Sophia had hardly spoken a word.She moved slowly, sat there with a blank look, and ate without even tasting her food.Damien kept an eye on her from across the room. He could see her shoulders rise and fall with each breath, but her eyes? They were distant. Not like they used to be.Eclipse hadn’t just watched her; it had dug deeper, touching something within her that he couldn’t quite grasp.Damien settled near the door, his weapon resting across his lap. He hadn’t said much either.The truth hung heavy between them.He was the model, and she was the test subject. Every step he thought he was taking on his own had already been mapped out long before he made it.The AI didn’t just predict his actions; it revolved around them.And now, it waited
Last Updated: 2025-06-22
Chapter: Subject MirrorThe tunnel felt like a void. When the lights flickered out, Damien didn’t budge. He pressed his back against the cold wall, his sidearm gripped tightly in his hand. Silence enveloped him. No sounds, no signals, nothing creeping up behind him.Just that message pulsing in his comm display: Subject Mirror online.He didn’t even blink.He ran that phrase through his mind, trying to make sense of it. It wasn’t part of the original Eclipse protocol. Not a known asset. Jace hadn’t mentioned it, and Vale had never dared to say it aloud.Mirror.Deep down, he knew what that meant. He just didn’t want to accept it.Taking a deep breath, he turned and headed back toward the main chamber.When he got there, he found Sophia sitting up. She looked pale, her hands gripping her knees tightly. It was like she hadn’t blinked in ages.She said she heard it again.Not quite sound. Not exactly words. Just something beneath all the noise. A breath. A heartbeat that didn’t belong to her.He asked her if s
Last Updated: 2025-06-22
Chapter: Fade PointThe city came to a standstill when the explosion hit the news. Emergency alerts blared. Curfews were imposed. Drones buzzed overhead. Checkpoints popped up everywhere. It felt like every government agency sprang into action at once.But they weren’t blaming Caleb.No, the finger pointed squarely at Damien.Images of him were manipulated. Footage got chopped and reassembled. On every screen, it played on repeat: Damien talking to the boy, then the blast. A tidy narrative that completely wiped Eclipse from the story.In a dark corner of a deserted parking garage, Ash was wiping blood off Damien’s forehead. He insisted he was okay, but she shot him a look that said otherwise.Sophia was nearby, her hands trembling. Her eyes were glued to a small medical pouch. Since they left the van, she hadn’t said a word.While they hid, Ash picked up two signals. One was from the cops. The other? Not good.The cops wanted Damien dead.And the second one came from Eclipse.It wasn’t encrypted. No viru
Last Updated: 2025-06-22
Chapter: The Asset WarDamien stood in the hallway, staring at the paused screen. Ash’s face filled the frame, caught mid-step in a place she insisted she’d never been. The video didn’t have a timestamp or any metadata just her, clear as day.Ash claimed the footage was fake. Eclipse had the tech to create deepfakes on the fly. They’d done worse before. Damien didn’t argue, but unease settled in his gut. Sophia stood behind them, arms crossed and quiet. She hadn’t said much since they left the staging facility.In the command room, Ash pulled up a damaged file Jace had left behind. It was still readable, revealing a manifest of embedded assets. It wasn’t just Sophia; there were others too. Names, ID numbers, and last-known statuses.One file blinked in red: Caleb Kirby. Seventeen years old. Active. Unstable.Ash said he’d been activated three days ago. His location? Washington D.C. His profile matched a known Eclipse trigger sequence. Damien didn’t need to ask what that meant. Suicide directive. Likely a ci
Last Updated: 2025-06-22
Chapter: Blood TiesThe staging site sat cold under the old power grid. Rusted signs and broken locks surrounded them. Dust thickened the air, and silence hung heavy. Damien led the way, with Ash close behind, rifle in hand, and Sophia trailing, her portable data tablet in hand, eyes darting around.They stepped into the first control chamber. Dead monitors lined the wall, and in the center, a biometric access pillar awaited retina, palm, and voice.Damien approached and placed his hand on the scanner. Nothing happened.Then a mechanical sound came from behind the wall, and a tray slid open.Inside was a black cube and a small folded slip of paper.Damien picked them up and quietly read the note.It said he was never out, just dormant, signed with a single letter: R.He opened the cube. Inside was a list of data from human trial records. Eclipse Phase One.He scanned the names.Sophia was on the list.So was he.Cross, Damien. Subject 03A. Exposure controlled. Outcome marked unstable.Ash remained silent
Last Updated: 2025-06-22
Chapter: The ResetSophia woke up to a heavy silence.Not the peaceful kindmore like that eerie feeling when you know someone’s watching you, pressing down on your chest.She sat up slowly, her head throbbing. Her skin felt clammy, and Damien’s coat hung over her shoulders.Across the room, he was slumped against the wall, arms crossed, staring at the floor as if it had betrayed him.“You okay?” she asked, breaking the stillness.His eyes lifted to meet hers. “You stopped the signal.”“Did it work?”“Too well,” he said. “Eclipse went dark right after. It dropped off every system. Not just drones. It vanished.”Sophia blinked. “That’s good… right?”Damien didn’t respond.Just then, Ash burst in, gripping her tablet. She looked like a zombielike she hadn’t slept in days.“We’ve got a problem,” she said, urgency in her voice.“Another one?” Damien muttered, sounding exhausted.“I did a full network scan. Eclipse isn’t offline. It’s off-grid.”Damien stood up straight. “What’s the difference?”Ash turned th
Last Updated: 2025-06-19
