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CHAPTER 112
The warehouse was in an abandoned industrial district where nobody asked questions. Inside, 40 operatives stood in perfect formation. All of them masked. All of them armed with weapons that wouldn't be legal in any civilized country. At the front of the room, the Shadow Order leader stood watching a large screen mounted on the wall. The footage showed Ethan's press conference from two days ago. "My name is Ethan Cross. I am the chairman of Sterling Global Corporation." The leader watched without moving, without reacting at all as the footage continued. Ethan answering questions from reporters. Looking confident. Looking powerful. Looking like someone who thought he'd won. The leader finally spoke, more to himself than anyone else. "So you finally revealed yourself. Good." He turned off the screen and faced the 40 operatives. "You all saw the target. Ethan Cross. Chairman of Sterling Global. Former prisoner who thinks he's untouchable now." One of the operatives in the front
chapter 111
The secure briefing room at Military Intelligence headquarters had no windows and only one door. Morrison stood at the front next to a large screen showing satellite imagery and what looked like intercepted communications data. James sat on one side of the table and Ethan sat on the other, both of them studying the information displayed. "Shadow Order went quiet after what happened at Pier 19," Morrison began. "We thought they'd retreated, maybe even disbanded. They didn't. They regrouped." James leaned forward. "Where?" Morrison used a laser pointer to indicate three spots on the map. "Three locations. Myanmar, North Korea, and Syria." "Hostile territories," Ethan said. "Exactly. Places where they can train and prepare without any interference from friendly governments." Morrison clicked to the next slide showing encrypted communications data. "We've been tracking their communications for weeks. Everything was encrypted, but we finally broke their code two days ago." He pres
110
By the time Ethan got home from the meeting with Morrison and James, it was already dark outside. He walked into the villa and heard sounds coming from the training room. The familiar rhythm of someone moving through martial arts forms. When he pushed the door open, Lily was in the middle of the room practicing a complex sequence of strikes and blocks that he'd taught her months ago. She moved with precision and confidence that would have seemed impossible back when she was lying in that hospital bed unable to see. She stopped mid-movement. "Brother. You're home late." Her heightened hearing from years of blindness meant she always knew when he entered a room, even when he tried to be quiet. "Meeting ran longer than I expected." Lily turned to face him. "Are you okay? Your breathing is different." "I'm fine." "You're lying to me." They sat down together on the mats in the corner of the training room. "I saw the news," Lily said. "Well, I heard it. Everyone knows who you are
CHAPTER 109
The main conference room at Sterling Global looked different with twelve new faces sitting around the long table.When Ethan walked in, all of them stood up immediately like they'd rehearsed it.He gestured for them to sit down and they did, watching him carefully as he made his way to the chairman's seat at the head of the table. Claire sat down to his right and opened her laptop.The energy in the room was completely different from what it had been with the old board. These people were paying attention. Actually listening. There was respect in the air, mixed with maybe a little fear and a lot of awareness that they were sitting across from someone who'd just made national headlines."Thank you all for coming," Ethan said. "For those I haven't met formally yet, I'm Ethan Cross. I've been chairman of this company for eight years. Now you know my face."A woman sitting three seats down spoke up. "Mr. Cross, we're honored to work with you.""The honor goes both ways, Amanda. But let's e
chapter 108
Before he could answer, his phone rang. James's name on the screen.Ethan put it on speaker."Have you seen the international news coverage?" James asked without preamble."No, I've been dealing with domestic media all morning.""Your name is everywhere. Including places you don't want it to be.""Meaning what exactly?""Meaning hostile foreign entities now know who you are and where to find you. Anyone who wants to target Sterling Global or its leadership knows exactly who to target now."Claire's face went pale."The Shadow Order?" Ethan asked."Morrison's been monitoring all known channels. No movement yet, but that could change now that you're public."After James hung up, the office was quiet for a moment."Should we have waited longer before revealing your identity?" Claire asked."It's too late to second-guess that decision now.""But if you're in danger—""I've been in danger this whole time, Claire. At least now I'm not hiding anymore. I can face whatever comes head-on instea
chapter 107
The next morning, business news channels couldn't talk about anything else.Bloomberg had it as their top story: "Sterling Global Stock Up 23% Following Chairman Reveal"The Wall Street Journal's headline read: "Ethan Cross: From Prison to Power"Financial Times went with: "The Hidden Chairman Who Changed Everything"Every major business publication was running the same story with different angles, and the markets were responding exactly the way Claire had predicted they would.At Drake Pharmaceuticals, Edmund Drake sat at the head of the conference table with his board members looking nervous.One of them cleared his throat. "Mr. Drake, should we release a statement about the Sterling Global situation?""Yes. Full support. Ethan Cross has my complete confidence."Another board member shifted uncomfortably. "But sir, he's a convicted—"Edmund cut him off. "He saved my company when nobody else would. He got me the documents I needed when I had no other options. That's all I need to kno
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