The night over Parris had turned bruised and heavy clouds pressing low, thunder rolling somewhere past the skyline similar to a growl that hadn't yet decided to strike. Inside AXILE's surveillance room, the air was even thicker.
A dozen monitors glowed pale blue against the dark, humming walls. Rows of faces reflected off the glass. The female black ops unit, led by Scarlet, all in black combat suits, the silver insignia on their collars faintly gleaming under the cold light.
In the center, Raphel, the lead technologist, sat behind a half-circle console filled with switches and screens. His thin fingers glided across a holographic pad, adjusting the angle of a live drone feed.
The image flickered in a bird's-eye view of Charles de Gaulle Airstrip No. 5, the off-grid terminal used by military transports. Small planes and convoys were arriving in coordinated precision, headlights cutting through mist.
"Eyes on target sectors A through D," Scarlet ordered, her tone clipped, every word a command from experience . "Log every plate, every face."
Her teammates remaining Maeve, Tess, and Rowen were already at work, their lenses and scanners linked into Raphel's mainframe while issa, Lucy, Anne and Kristine stood guard the environment they were in.
The sound of keystrokes filled the room, rapid and syncopated along with the rhythm of control under pressure.
"Car five-eight-two, registered under Norin Exports," Tess murmured. "Passenger list, six. All accounted for."
"Plane twelve just landed," Maeve added. "Three men disembarking hold on…"
Scarlet leaned in, her eyes narrowing. "Zoom."
The drone feed magnified. The grain sharpened until the frame focused on a tall man stepping out of the private jet, lean, sharp-featured, wearing a gray trench coat. A thin scar trailed along his neck like an unfinished sentence.
Raphel froze. His hand stopped mid-air.
"That can't be…"
Scarlet's gaze cut sideways. "Who?"
Raphel confused, then whispered, " Egypt men...Dicoviche."
The name landed like a weight.
Every eye turned toward the screen.
"But that's impossible," Kristen breathed. "He's dead. The files..."
"said there was no body," Scarlet finished for her, jaw tightening. "And no one looked hard enough to find one but I'm sure he was dead ."
The drone refocused, showing Dicoviche stepping into a waiting car. Two men followed him, both wearing dark coats, their eyes hidden behind mirrored lenses. Bodyguards, clearly experts in their movements which was too disciplined to be civilian.
"License plate F-92-TN7," Tess said quickly, fingers flying.
"Cross-checking…" She stopped. "No registry. It's a ghost tag."
Scarlet's lips pressed into a thin line. "Then they're using diplomatic shells again. Let's flag it this time."
Raphel nodded grimly and tapped the command into the system.
On the screen, Dicoviche's face was outlined in red. The label beneath it read:
[Target Class: High-Value Rogue Asset]
Status: Capture or Eliminate
Associates: Two males suspects unregistered. Five bodyguards. Armed
Scarlet exhaled slowly. "Notify the others. No delays."
Raphel picked up the encrypted phone from the console. The red indicator light blinked once.
"Klaus's team first," he said, dialing. "They're closest to Zone Three."
The line clicked. "Scarlet here. You have eyes?" Klaus's voice came through, calm and a little slow, the faint hum of an engine in the background.
"Affirmative," Raphel replied. "Target Dicoviche is alive. Repeat, alive. Currently mobile, last seen heading east toward the St. Germaine district. You're to confirm and track.
"Copy that. Forwarding to my unit now."he responded.
He hung up before Raphel could add more.
Across the city, the message spread like electricity.
In a small, dimly lit hotel near the 8th arrondissement, Yunli's eyes flicked across her tablet as the coded ping appeared on her secure line. The corner of her lips tightened slightly not surprise, just quiet acknowledgment.
She was already in Le Jardin Hôtel, one of the older establishments near the business quarter. The same hotel where, according to intercepted data, another ghost Dicoviche had checked in under a false identity barely an hour earlier.
"I'm sure he had a bullet this chest during our last encounter when he tried to escape. Now he's back from the dead huh" she thought.
Her room on the sixth floor faced the courtyard, where shadows stretched under yellow lamplight. Yunli had been in position since sunset, the soft hum of her decryption program the only sound besides her breathing.
When she received the name, she didn't move immediately.
She only looked up when the elevator chimed below.
Her gaze slid toward the street through half drawn curtains
and paused.
Through the fading drizzle, she saw a man stepping out of a black SUV, trench coat collar raised, walking with a deliberate steadiness that tugged at something in her memory. "That can't be." She exclaimed.
She lifted her compact binoculars. The face came into focus "Klaus." Indeed.
But something was wrong about him. His eyes were colder, his movements were solid but too careful, as though fighting invisible tremors.
He crossed the hotel's lobby without hesitation.
Yunli's hand excitedly took out her tablet, captured a photo through the narrow window slit, and encrypted it.
The file was tagged "UNKNOWN PRESENCE / POSSIBLE MACE ID – PRIOR CONTACT."
Then she typed a single line message:
To: ATHALIA
From: YUNLI
Subject: POSSIBLE DUPLICATE OR SURVIVOR – NEED VERIFICATION*
Attaching image. Recommend silent observation. Team not informed.
She hit send and the tablet chimed once the transmission was completed.
Outside, Klaus vanished into the lobby's shadows while yunlin carefully closed her cotton and busies her self to ensure she had not been exposed.
Her reflection stared back at her in the glass with calm face and steady eyes
"If he's alive… then why else did he not make contact?" She thought but gave up as she knew her focus was elsewhere.