Location: Panama City – A Seaside Warehouse
Waves crashed gently against the shore as Adrian, Mia, Dom, and Vince stood around a makeshift table with engine parts scattered across it. A cooler full of beers sat nearby, unopened.
"You always find the best hideouts," Dom said, glancing around.
Adrian smirked. "Old contacts. South America's full of ghosts who owe me favors."
Vince raised an eyebrow. "Ghosts or Ghost?"
"Both."
Mia chuckled softly. She'd grown used to these casual drops of Adrian's past—the ones that sounded like war stories but were probably blood-soaked truths.
Dom leaned forward. "I heard something weird before I left L.A. Someone's been poking around our files. But not police. Government. Military."
Adrian didn't move. "Did they say a name?"
Dom shook his head. "No. But they asked about Alpha."
The warehouse dropped into silence.
Mia looked at Adrian. "That's you, isn't it?"
He nodded. "My military codename. Only people who knew it are either dead… or work in places the public doesn't even know exists."
Vince whistled low. "And now they're snooping again?"
"Means someone new's rising through the ranks," Adrian muttered. "Someone stupid enough to dig."
Location: Unknown – Secure Digital Server Farm
A teenage hacker—barely twenty—grinned at his screen.
"Come on, 'Alpha.' Let's see what ghosts you've got in your closet…"
Fingers flew over a mechanical keyboard as firewalls were breached. Then—
"CONNECTION TERMINATED."
SCREEN LOCKDOWN.
A deep, synthesized voice echoed through the speakers:
"You have trespassed into restricted hell. The devil is watching."
The hacker's eyes widened. Then everything in his room shut down—lights, power, Wi-Fi. Complete blackout.
Outside his window, a drone hovered. Watching.
Location: Panama – Beachside Bar
Later that night, the crew sat in the open-air lounge, watching the ocean as the firepit crackled. Adrian nursed a whiskey while Mia curled beside him.
Dom turned toward Adrian. "You ever think of settling down?"
Adrian looked into the flames.
"I was trained to survive," he said. "To eliminate. To vanish. Settling down wasn't in the files."
Mia nudged him. "But now?"
He looked at her, soft smile tugging at his lips.
"Now I have a reason."
Dom lifted his drink. "To the devil with a heart."
They all laughed.
Location: Brazil – Monica Fuentes' Safehouse
Monica stood by her window, staring at the night sky. Her laptop blinked with messages. The name "Ghost" appeared in three of them.
She poured herself a drink and whispered, "You're not done with me yet, are you, Adrian?"
Location: U.S. – Black Site Interrogation Rooms
A high-ranking NSA officer reviewed files. Redacted reports. Grainy photos. One name kept resurfacing under different aliases:
Lucifer. Ghost. Devil. Alpha. Adrian Kade.
The officer slammed the folder shut.
"Terminate all investigations. Immediately."
"But sir—he's just one man."
The officer glared at the agent.
"He's not just a man. He's a one-man extinction-level event. If we push too hard... he'll push back. And this time, there won't be a second chance."
End of Chapter 16