Chapter 21: Phase ThreeTaurus Mountains – Aftermath of the BattleSmoke curled through the collapsed tunnel entrance. Knox crouched beside a fallen SIGMA operator, pressing down on a gaping wound.“Stay with me. You hear me?” he barked, voice raw with urgency.The Titan lay a few meters away — twisted, sparking, its core cracked open. The second had escaped during the firefight, dragging two Echo troopers with it. Blood and dust covered the stone floor.“Extraction’s en route,” Jessa said through gritted teeth, still limping from a shrapnel wound. “But Viper’s gone. Again.”Knox stood, breathing hard. His fists clenched.“He’s not just evading us. He’s guiding us.”Ankara – SIGMA Forward Command Base – Hours LaterBack at base, Commander Carter reviewed the footage from the tunnel. A frozen image of the Titan loomed on screen — half-human, half-machine.Jessa entered the room, face pale. “We scanned the wreckage. They weren’t fully robotic. There were… remains inside.”Carter stiffen

Chapter 23: The Last DescentNorthern Iraq – Nightfall – Outskirts of Viper’s Broadcast ZoneThe SIGMA jet roared low over barren hills, silhouetted against a burning horizon. Fires blazed in distant towns. Entire regions had gone dark, communication silenced.Knox leaned over the drop ramp, the wind howling around him.“Thirty seconds,” the pilot called.Jessa double-checked her suppressor and sidearm. “You sure you’re ready for this?”Knox didn’t respond. He looked at the landscape below — harsh, unforgiving, and teeming with men who wanted them dead.He stepped off the ramp.Ground – 2200 HoursThe team hit the dirt running, NVGs flickering as they scanned the terrain. A SIGMA drone overhead fed them thermal imagery.“There,” Jessa said, pointing. “The relay tower. Viper’s using it to boost the monolith’s signal. Whole structure’s retrofitted — we breach, we end this.”Knox nodded. “We go in silent, hard, and fast. We don’t stop until he’s bleeding or buried.”They moved in formati

Chapter 25: Ghost Protocol The city was quiet—but not safe. Smoke no longer choked the skyline, but it lingered in the bones of the city. In alleyways and shattered storefronts, in the silence of buildings that had once been homes, shelters, battlegrounds. The war was technically over, but Jaxon had learned long ago—wars didn’t end. They just shifted shape. He stood on the rooftop of what used to be one of Kade’s strongholds. Now, it served as the makeshift Shadow OPS command center, surrounded by blacked-out SUVs, antennas, and patrols of tired but alert operatives. The wind cut through his jacket, cold and biting, but he welcomed the sting. It meant he was still alive. Mara stepped onto the rooftop, her boots crunching against shattered glass. She handed him a cup of steaming coffee. “I thought you might need this.” Jaxon took it, nodding. “Thanks.” They stood in silence for a moment, watching as floodlights moved slowly across the ruined skyline. Below, emergency crews worke

Chapter 27: Fire in the VeinsThe countdown began.00:01:29Mara cursed under her breath as she slammed the override key into the console. Sparks flew from the mainframe, but the system resisted her touch like it had a mind of its own.“We’re locked in,” she said, fingers flying. “He’s got full control of the exits.”“Then we make our own,” Jaxon growled, scanning the room. “Ayla—anything we can use to blow out the northern wall?”Ayla moved with terrifying efficiency. “There’s a coolant compression line running under the main walkway. If we rupture it, the pressure will tear through reinforced steel.”Jaxon nodded. “Show me.”As Ayla led him to the pipe junction, Mara pulled a drive from the terminal. “I got partial data—records, facility schematics, and a Black Dusk file tagged ‘Phase II.’ Whatever Griggs is planning… this was just the opening act.”Jaxon grit his teeth. “We end it before the curtain rises.”00:00:57Ayla dropped to one knee, planting a shaped charge beneath the pip

Chapter 29: The Fault LineZurich Bunker – 02:13 A.M.The air inside the Shadow Ops war room was thick with quiet tension. Screens flickered with surveillance footage, decrypted data, and scrambled communications, painting a digital constellation of Griggs’ operations.Jaxon leaned over the central table, fingers tapping restlessly. Across from him, Ayla sat rigid, eyes locked on the holographic map cycling between Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia.They were chasing ghosts.But tonight, one finally blinked into view.A soft chime echoed through the chamber.Mara stepped forward. “I found something.”She zoomed in on a small quadrant near the Berlin outskirts—an abandoned pharmaceutical compound flagged in Griggs’ old communications under the codename “Cradle.”“It was registered as a failed biotech facility. Burned out in ‘09. But the satellite caught heat signatures—recent ones. Subsurface tunnels, movement, radiation anomalies.”Jaxon stared at the feed. “How recent?”“Thi