Chapter 22: Awakening the SleepersSIGMA Command Center – Crisis RoomThe crisis room was pure chaos. Phone lines rang nonstop, analysts shouted updates across the floor, and red markers blinked on the world map with spreading urgency.Carter stood at the head of the room like the eye of a hurricane.“We have confirmed sleeper events in Beirut, Prague, Jakarta, Atlanta, and Lagos,” one analyst said. “Civilians with clean records. Then they just… snapped.”Knox was already geared up, his jaw clenched. “We trained for terrorism, black ops, cyberwarfare — not this.”Jessa stepped beside him, scrolling through a feed of blurry CCTV footage. “These aren’t just random. Each target had one thing in common: government data infrastructure.”Knox’s brow furrowed. “Viper’s not sowing chaos. He’s blinding us first.”Geneva – UN Cybersecurity SummitA low hum of diplomacy and tension filled the room until the emergency alert system sounded. Phones buzzed, screens flashed. A delegate dropped her ea

Chapter 24: Smoke and Silence(Expanded Version)SIGMA Medical Wing – 48 Hours LaterKnox lay in bed, awake but silent, his left side heavily bandaged. His body bore the cost of survival — bruised ribs, shrapnel burns, and a knife wound that had nearly ended him.Machines beeped steadily around him, but it was the absence of noise that ate at him.Not the pain. Not even the nightmares.It was the quiet. The way no one looked him in the eye.The way he couldn’t look in the mirror.The door opened. Commander Carter entered, uncharacteristically subdued.“Doctors say you’re a damn miracle,” he said, holding a tablet in one hand. “Or maybe just too stubborn to die.”Knox tried to sit up, winced, then forced himself to remain upright. “Cut the crap. What aren’t you telling me?”Carter handed him the tablet. “We recovered fragments from the relay station. One of them had this on it.”Knox scrolled through files: biometric IDs, neural maps, sleeper agent patterns. Then he found it — his own