The desert station's generator hummed with a rhythm that had become the soundtrack of their survival.
Axel stood at the map table, his eyes tracing the lines that represented the Ascendancy's known operations. Sloan had provided them with a wealth of intelligence, but the picture was still incomplete. The Ascendancy was a ghost, a shadow that slipped through their fingers every time they got close.
"There's something I haven't told you," Sloan said, her voice low. "Something I've been keeping secret for years."
Axel looked up, his eyes narrowed. "What is it?"
"The Ascendancy isn't just another organization. They're the remnants of something older. Something that predates the Covenant, the Collective, even the Exordium." Sloan's voice was flat. "They call themselves the Ghost Protocol."
