AFTERMATH — THE SHADOW WAR
PART ONE: THE CEASEFIRE THAT ISN’T
4:16 AM — Council War Room, Geneva
Elder Castellan’s order to “stand down” had been calculated, not capitulation.
The public face was surrender. The hidden machinery was different.
He sat alone in the War Room now, the screens still flickering with real time data arrest warrants being processed, assets being seized, the apparatus of seventy years crumbling into rubble. But beneath the screens, his fingers moved across a secure console that law enforcement didn’t know existed.
Protocol Exodus hadn’t been deactivated. It had been compartmentalized.
“All teams remain mobilized,” he said into an encrypted line. “Kill Aria Moretti and her son. Kill anyone connected to the exposure. Kill Ghost since he proves unreliable. But do
