2025-12-13 00:02:47
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CHAPTER 17B — THE HOUSE WITH NO SHADOWS
The silence in the safehouse felt wrong. Not quiet, empty. Richard stepped inside first, gun raised, Gray’s mask pulled low on his face. His boots touched the wooden floorboards without a creak. Behind him, Jonah and Silk fanned out, weapons ready.“Lights,” Richard whispered. Jonah flicked the switch. Nothing.Silk exhaled. “Power’s been cut. Two minutes, maybe less.”Richard didn’t look back. “Then we’re not alone.” A soft metallic click echoed from the hallway.Jonah froze. “Boss… that wasn’t me.”Richard’s pulse tightened. “Positions.”He took three steps deeper into the dark corridor, senses sharpened, breath thin. The scent of bleach lingered, too strong, too recent. A sign someone wiped something down. Or hid something.Silk whispered, “You think Daniella left May here?”“No,” Richard said coldly. “She wouldn’t make it this easy.”“And Serpent?” Jonah asked.“Serpent doesn’t clean,” Richard replied.That left only one possibility. A shadow shifted at the end of the hallway.Ric
CHAPTER 17A —THE WRAITH WATCHES THE DOOR
Back in the war room, Crane slammed his laptop shut. “Boss! You need to see this.”Richard placed May in Devon’s arms. “Stay with her. Don’t move.”Then he strode to Crane. Crane opened the laptop again.A single video file blinked. No sender. No origin. No encryption trail.Just one title: “HELLO, MAY.”Richard’s pulse sharpened painfully. “Play it.”Crane hit the button. The video opened to a black screen. A hiss of static.Then, A whisper. But not spoken. Scraped. A metal sound dragging across a concrete wall. Slow. Deliberate. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap.Richard’s heart hammered. That was the sound May heard. The camera feed flickered, showing a blurry tunnel, the ventilation tunnel of the Burrow.Richard leaned in. “Crane. That’s inside our grid.”Crane’s voice shook. “He was here. He was in the vents.”Devon burst in, breathless. “Boss, no breaches. No footprints. No thermal signatures.” Richard’s voice was ice.“Of course not. Because he didn’t come in. He stayed at the edge, just clos
CHAPTER 16B —THE SHADOW WAR IGNITES
Hours later, the trap zone came alive. Richard stood inside the abandoned rail depot: a cavern of rusted beams, long-forgotten train cars, and pitch-black silence that swallowed sound.Devon whispered, “Motion sensors set. Drone sweeps live. Lopez is covering the east tunnels.”Malik checked his rifle. “No visual yet. Wraith’s good at hiding his trail.”Crane muttered, “If we don’t see him until he’s already killing one of us, that’s normal.”Richard’s voice was cold. “Then we make abnormal conditions.”They set the false signal, an encrypted message “leaking” that Richard would attempt to transfer May to a safehouse through the depot.They backed into the shadows and waited. Ten minutes. Twenty. Forty. Nothing.Malik whispered, “Think he bought it?”Richard’s voice was barely audible. “He’s here.”The air shifted. Devon stiffened. “Boss, thermal sweep picking something up.”Crane stared at the scanner. “That’s… impossible.”Richard hissed, “Say it.” Crane swallowed.“He’s behind us
CHAPTER16A — THE WRAITH BEGINS THE HUNT
The Burrow hummed with low mechanical life, servers breathing, underground ventilation rattling, gun cabinets quietly locking and unlocking as Crane ran diagnostics.The bunker felt steady, safe. But Richard felt the opposite. He stood before the holographic table, arms folded, eyes burning as Daniella’s house, her political networks, and Serpent’s last known coordinates rotated in ghostly blue light.Devon approached. “Boss. You’re not gonna like this.”Richard didn’t look up. “Try me.”Devon held out a tablet. “A name popped up on dark-channel chatter. Something Serpent pulled. A contract level I’ve never seen.”Crane snatched the tablet from Devon, eyes scanning. His face drained of color. “No. No, no, no… he didn’t.”Richard finally looked up. “What name?”Crane hesitated. “The Wraith.”Silence dropped over the room like a burial cloth.Malik leaned back in his chair. “This some kind of myth?”Crane shook his head, voice shaky. “No myth. Ghost ops used to whisper about him. He’s n
CHAPTER 15B— THE HUNT THROUGH BROKEN LIGHT
The SUV tore down the dirt road, branches slapping against the reinforced sides as Devon pushed the engine to its limits. Gravel spat behind them like sparks from a fuse.Richard held May tight in the back seat. She was shaking, small, terrified, clinging to him with both hands, but alive. Breathing. Warm. That was all that mattered.Malik groaned beside him, pressing a hand against the gunshot grazing his ribs. “Boss… I swear… one day we’re gonna need a normal rescue. Something simple. Handshakes. Coffee. No explosions.”Devon barked a humorless laugh from the front. “You wanna complain right now? Really?”“Yeah,” Malik wheezed. “Because it hurts when I breathe.”Lopez, in the seat beside Devon, turned half around. “Boss, where do we go? Your penthouse is burned. The old factory is compromised. The marina is crawling with watchers.”Richard didn’t hesitate. His voice was low, steady, lethal.“We go underground.”Devon’s hands tightened on the wheel. “Understood.”May lifted her head.
CHAPTER 15A — THE HUNT THROUGH BROKEN LIGHT
The muzzle flash lit the courtyard like lightning.Richard twisted, shielding May with his entire body. The bullet clipped the stone pillar beside him, exploding dust across his back. The sound echoed through the compound as guards erupted into shouts. May screamed, hands fisted in his shirt. Richard didn’t let her go, not for a heartbeat.Serpent strode forward, calm as a surgeon approaching a patient. “You made it farther than I expected,” he called out, voice smooth. “But it ends now.”Richard didn’t answer. He shifted his weight, scanned the angles. Three guards behind Serpent. Two flanking the courtyard. More coming. He had seconds, seconds, before the ring closed around them. Another shot cracked through the air. Richard dropped to one knee, spinning behind a stone planter. He curled around May, feeling her tiny fingers trembling against his throat.“Daddy,” she sobbled, “please don’t let them take me.”“I won’t,” Richard whispered fiercely. “I won’t let anyone touch you, sweet
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