Episode 5: War Begins
1204 Words
The Blackout
The moment the lights cut out, Phantom’s instincts took over. Total darkness. Muffled gunfire. The scent of gunpowder thick in the air.
His first thought? Kross planned this.
His second? Isabella was still holding his arm.
“Move!” she hissed, pulling him through the darkness.
Phantom followed, his body tense, ears trained on every sound. Footsteps. Shouting. Silencers coughing bullets into flesh. Moretti’s men were scrambling, disoriented. Perfectly played.
Phantom reached into his pocket, gripping a small device—a mini EMP he always carried.
Two seconds. One button.
He pressed it.
A sharp pulse of energy surged through the room, frying any nearby electronics Kross’s men carried. Night-vision goggles? Dead. Communications? Scrambled.
A curse rang out from the shadows. Good.
Isabella’s grip tightened on his arm. “That was you?”
He smirked. “I play dirty, too.”
A gunshot whizzed past his ear. Isabella yanked him forward.
They needed to get out—now.
Escape Route
A dim red glow flickered as emergency lights kicked in. Just enough to see.
“Where’s your closest exit?” Phantom demanded.
Isabella scanned the room. Bodies everywhere. Some of her men were still alive, firing back. Others…not so lucky.
“There,” she pointed—a steel-reinforced door across the room.
“Figures it’s on the other side of the damn gunfight,” Phantom muttered.
Isabella smirked. “Come on, hacker boy. Try to keep up.”
She pivoted fast, grabbed a fallen gun, and fired three precise shots.
Two headshots. One in the throat.
Phantom blinked. “Remind me never to piss you off.”
She winked. “Too late.”
They sprinted through the chaos. Phantom wasn’t a fighter, but he was fast. He dodged, weaved between bodies, barely avoiding stray bullets.
One of Kross’s men lunged from the side. Isabella shot him in the knee, grabbed him by the collar, and used his body as a shield while she took down another.
Jesus.
They reached the door. Isabella slammed her palm against a scanner. Nothing.
“Kross’s hack must’ve locked it down,” she snarled.
Phantom shoved her aside, dropping to his knees in front of the control panel. Wires. Circuits. Manual override.
He worked fast. No time to think, just move.
More gunfire. More screaming.
“Any day now!” Isabella barked, shooting at an approaching enemy.
“Done!” Phantom yanked the panel open and twisted two exposed wires together. The lock clicked, and the door slammed open.
“GO!”
They darted through, slamming the door behind them. Phantom reactivated the lock, sealing Kross’s men inside.
For now.
The Safehouse Isn’t Safe
They bolted down a narrow corridor, heartbeats pounding. Isabella’s underground compound was compromised.
She led him to an upper level, past more guards—her survivors.
A large war room loomed ahead, walls lined with screens. Isabella’s second-in-command, Rocco, was already there, barking orders.
The moment they entered, he turned, relief flickering in his hard eyes. “Boss, what the hell—”
“We got hit. Kross’s men,” she snapped. “How bad is it?”
Rocco’s jaw tightened. “We lost half the team downstairs. They disabled all exterior security. We’re blind out there.”
Phantom ran a hand through his hair. Of course they were. Kross wouldn’t just break in. He’d make sure they couldn’t see him coming again.
“What about our exit routes?” Isabella asked.
Rocco hesitated. Phantom didn’t like that.
“…Blocked,” he admitted. “They locked down the main roads leading out.”
“Son of a bitch.” Isabella slammed a fist on the table.
Phantom took a breath. This was a trap. A chessboard.
Kross had them exactly where he wanted them. Pinned. Isolated. Vulnerable.
And the worst part?
This wasn’t about Moretti.
This was about him.
Kross’s Message
A soft ding echoed through the war room.
One of the screens lit up.
A live video feed. And a familiar face.
Damien Kross.
Phantom’s stomach twisted. He looked the same. Sharp, calculated. Smug. A predator in tailored black.
“Well, well,” Kross mused. “Look at you, Phantom. Running with the mafia now? Tsk.”
Phantom clenched his jaw. “Kross.”
The man’s smirk deepened. “You’re making this so easy.”
Isabella stepped forward. “You hacked my systems. Killed my men.”
Kross barely acknowledged her. “You were in the way.”
Her fingers curled around her gun.
Phantom knew that look. A second from pulling the trigger—whether at the screen or someone else, he wasn’t sure.
“I don’t have time for your games, Kross,” Phantom snapped. “What do you want?”
Kross tilted his head. “Oh, you know what I want.”
The screen flickered. A file appeared.
A government file.
Phantom froze.
No. No, no, no.
Kross grinned. “Remember this?”
Phantom’s mouth went dry.
He did.
It was his past.
A classified document. Proof of what he did years ago. The job that got him blacklisted. The hack that made him an outlaw.
Kross had found it.
And now?
He was using it as a weapon.
A Deal with the Devil
“You give me what I want,” Kross continued, “or this goes public.”
Phantom’s hands curled into fists.
If that file leaked…
His life was over.
No safehouses. No dark web cover. No anonymity. Every intelligence agency, every bounty hunter, every criminal organization would come for him.
He’d be hunted.
Isabella glanced at him. “What’s in that file?”
Phantom didn’t answer.
Kross chuckled. “Oh, I think she should see it, don’t you?”
The file opened.
Isabella’s eyes widened.
She stared at the screen, then slowly turned to Phantom.
“Is this true?” she asked.
Silence.
Kross smirked. “Ah, secrets. Always fun, aren’t they?”
Phantom’s pulse hammered. He couldn’t let this happen.
His mind raced. He needed to turn this around. Fast.
His fingers moved subtly toward his laptop. A hidden command.
Delay the transmission. Corrupt the file. Buy time.
He pressed Enter.
A glitch. A flicker. Just for a second.
Kross’s smirk faltered.
Gotcha, bastard.
Phantom acted immediately.
He turned to Isabella. “You want to kill him? Good. But we do it on my terms.”
Her eyes narrowed. “…Why should I trust you?”
Kross leaned forward. “Yes, Phantom. Why should she?”
Phantom exhaled. Think. Think.
Finally, he met Isabella’s gaze. “Because I can beat him.”
Kross laughed. “Oh, that’s rich.”
Phantom ignored him. “You want revenge? Fine. But you need me alive to pull it off.”
Isabella considered him.
The tension stretched.
Then—she smiled.
A slow, dangerous smile.
“Alright, hacker boy,” she murmured. “You get your shot.”
She turned to Kross. “Enjoy breathing while you can.”
She cut the feed.
The screen went black.
Phantom exhaled. Holy s**t.
Isabella’s voice was calm. “Tell me how we kill him.”
Phantom straightened.
This was it.
His only chance.
“We don’t just kill him,” he said. “We erase him.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
- Writer
