THE RAVEN PROTOCOL

Ayla Trent had never believed in coincidences.

The days when she would have—when she trusted the world to be a little more simple—had long since passed. But even with all the training she’d undergone, the people she’d buried, and the lies she’d been fed, nothing had prepared her for the storm that was about to hit.

It started with a phone call.

Ayla sat alone at her desk in the dimly lit office, the weight of countless files stacked in front of her. There were no windows here in the basement of the FBI headquarters—only the steady hum of the air conditioning and the cold, hard surface of the desk under her fingers. Every case she worked seemed to grow darker by the minute, each investigation twisting into something she couldn’t quite understand.

Her fingers hovered over a pile of files on her father’s old cases—the ones that had been buried years ago after his death. She’d spent years trying to find answers, trying to piece together a man she thought she knew. But there was one thing she couldn’t understand.

Why had he disappeared?

The phone buzzed on the desk, pulling her from her thoughts. She answered it without hesitation.

“Ayla Trent?” The voice on the other end was smooth, almost too smooth, with an accent that she couldn’t quite place.

“Speaking.”

“I’m sending you something. Get ready.”

Before Ayla could ask more, the line went dead.

She leaned back in her chair, her fingers drumming anxiously on the desk. Something about the voice nagged at her. Something cold, calculating—but familiar.

Not long after, a message pinged on her encrypted laptop.

Incoming Transfer: Subject – Raven Protocol

Ayla’s heart skipped a beat. The Raven Protocol was nothing more than a whispered legend, an elusive name that had popped up in some of the darkest corners of the FBI's most secretive cases. No one knew who controlled it, no one knew who was behind it—but everyone knew it was real. A shadow operation, known only to a select few. Its influence stretched beyond borders, beyond nations. And it had been rumored to be linked to some of the most powerful individuals in the world.

But why was it coming to her?

She clicked on the transfer.

A video file opened.

The image was blurry at first, a shaky camera revealing a dark alley. The figure at the center of the shot was tall, wearing a long coat that seemed to swallow the light around him. The person was standing still, almost as if waiting, as the camera zoomed in closer.

Then, the voice. Low, cold, with an edge of finality that made Ayla’s stomach tighten.

“You’ve been looking for answers, Agent Trent,” the voice said. “And you’ll find them. But not in the way you expect.”

Ayla’s fingers froze over the keyboard.

The man in the video stepped forward, revealing a scarred face—one that Ayla recognized immediately.

Cassian Vale.

Her jaw tightened as she watched him, trying to make sense of it. Cassian Vale was the ghost of the agency, an agent turned rogue years ago under mysterious circumstances. He had once been a high-ranking operative in the Special Operations Division—a man with access to the most classified information the FBI had ever possessed.

But then he disappeared. And no one had heard from him since.

Until now.

“Cassian?” she whispered aloud, her breath catching in her throat.

“Your father wasn’t the man you thought he was,” Cassian continued in the video, his voice low and grave. “And neither are you. You’ve inherited more than just his name. You’ve inherited his debts—and his enemies.”

Ayla’s chest constricted. Her father, John Trent, had died under questionable circumstances—an accident, the FBI had called it. But the rumors, the whispers, never stopped. There was always something in the back of her mind, something she couldn’t shake. She had spent years trying to understand what had happened to him. What he had been involved in.

But now, standing at the edge of this dark revelation, she could feel the truth pressing in on her from every side.

Cassian stepped closer to the camera, his eyes cold as ice.

“You’re tangled in a web now, Ayla. The Raven Protocol is a machine—a system of control, a tool of power. And you’ve just been drawn into it. Welcome to the game.”

The screen went black, and the file clicked off.

For a moment, Ayla couldn’t move. She felt the weight of everything that had just been revealed crashing down on her, and the silence of the office seemed to press in on her chest. She stood slowly, her mind spinning as she tried to digest what she had just seen.

Her father’s death. Cassian Vale’s sudden reappearance. The Raven Protocol—whatever it was.

She had to know more.

She grabbed her coat, heading for the door. There were only a few people in the world who might have answers—and one of them was Kara Levinson, the Deputy Director of the FBI. Kara had been her mentor, her guide. She had helped Ayla rise through the ranks, trusted her with cases others would never touch. But what if… what if Kara knew more than she was letting on?

Ayla didn’t know who to trust anymore.

As she made her way to Kara’s office, the weight of the flash drive pressed against her side. It felt like a ticking time bomb, one that could explode at any moment. She had to find out what was on it—what Cassian had sent her.

But as she turned the corner to the Director’s office, Ayla saw something that stopped her in her tracks.

Kara was talking to someone—someone unfamiliar. A man in a suit, his face obscured by the shadows of the dimly lit room.

And when he turned, Ayla froze.

It was Lucien Ravek.

The name echoed in her mind. Lucien Ravek was a name from her father’s old cases—a name tied to corruption, arms deals, and criminal syndicates operating in the dark corners of the world.

But the question that burned in her mind was simple.

Why was he here?