Chapter 6 - The Unseen Enemy
While peace settled over the kitchen in Long Island, forty miles away in a sterile, windowless conference room in downtown Manhattan, the atmosphere was thick with rising panic.
Victor Vance—no relation to the disgraced security chief, but a senior partner in the clandestine network known only as the Syndicate—slapped a heavy dossier down onto the polished conference table. Across from him sat two regional directors, their faces pale under the fluorescent lights.
"Explain to me how a routine extraction team led by a Vanguard veteran vanishes completely off the grid in a secure residential zone," Victor snarled, his voice echoing in the small room. "Mason Bell’s encrypted data feed died at ninety-four percent. And the backup team we sent to sweep the perimeter hasn't checked in since 3:15 A.M."
"It wasn't a standard defense, sir," one of the directors stammered, tapping a digital tablet. "We managed to intercept a scrambled local police dispatch log from a private frequency near Long Island. There were no gunfights reported at Rourke House. No sirens. But our satellite thermal imaging shows two unmarked black SUVs leaving the estate just before dawn, heading directly toward a federal logistics hub upstate."
Victor’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "Dominic Rourke doesn't have that kind of counter-intelligence capability. He’s a logistics man turned enforcer, not a ghost operative."
"It wasn't Dominic," the director whispered, pulling up a grainy security still captured from a traffic camera near the estate gates—a clear image of a woman with pale green eyes and a torn gray cardigan sitting in the passenger seat of an escort vehicle. "We ran facial recognition through the Interpol restricted archives. Her file was scrubbed six years ago by an international black-ops oversight committee."
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"Who is she?" Victor demanded, leaning forward.
"Call sign: Wraith," the director replied. "Former elite tactical asset for global asset protection. She didn't infiltrate Rourke House tonight, Mr. Vance. She was already inside it."
