Chapter 5; The Ghost Awakens
892 Words
Everen walked out of the hospital. It felt like everything had been taken away from him for real this time. He knew he had lost everything, but it had nit registered the way it clocked to him right now.
Leontis had really won this time. Nerissa had chosen him. Now Niva was being shipped off to Switzerland under the care of a man who had poisoned her mind and stolen her father's place.
And Everen couldn't do a damn thing about it.
He walked out of the automatic doors and felt the night air hit his face. It was really cold, but this cold was nothing for him. He had survived worse in the mountains of snow in Alaska and Antarctica. The parking lot was almost empty and the florescent lighs ahead flickered ahead
He walked toward his car, his footsteps heavy on the concrete. His mind was racing, running through plans amd everything he could have done differently.
He should have come home sooner. He should have fought harder. He should have—
Something stopped him.
He felt a prickle at the back of his neck. A feeling he hadn't felt in years, not since the mountains of Afghanistan. The feeling of being watched.
Everen slowed his pace but he didn't turn around. He kept walking, his eyes scanning the parking lot, checking for every shadow, every parked car snf every possible hiding spot.
His instincts, the same one that had kept him alive in places where death lurked around every corner, were never wrong.
He reached his car and fumbled with his keys, pretending to unlock the door. In his peripheral vision, he caught a flicker of movement near a row of parked SUVs.
Someone was there. Someone was watching him.
Everen's heart rate didn't change. His breathing stayed steady. He had been in this situation a hundred times before. The only difference was that this time, he didn't have a weapon.
He slipped his hand into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around a small metal pen. It wasn't much of a weapon, but it was something he could make to work.
He started walking toward the row of SUVs, his pace casual and unhurried. He could feel the eyes on him, tracking his movements. There was not just one person. There were two of them. Maybe three.
He turned a corner between two large vehicles and disappeared from sight.
Then he waited.
Finally, he heard the footsteps come closer. It was fast and quiet, but he heard them and proceeded to count the footfalls. There were two people moving together and the same time with the same speed. They seemed professional, he thought. But not professional enough.
The first one rounded the corner, and Everen moved sast and swiftly. He shot his hand out, grabbing the man and then twisting it at an unnatural angle. The man's weapon clattered to the ground and before he could scream, Everen's other hand came up and drove the metal pen into his throat.
The man's eyes went wide as blood came out from his mouth. Then he dropped to his knees and then collapsed, dead before he hit the concrete.
The second man was already backing away, his eyes wide with shock. He reached for his weapon, but Everen was faster. He closed the distance in two steps, grabbing the man by the collar and slamming him against the side of the SUV.
“Who sent you?” Everen growled quietly.
The man's face was pale. His hands were shaking. “You—you're supposed to be—”
“Who. Sent. You?” he pinned him tighter around the throat.
The man laughed, a high, nervous sound. “You don't even know, do you? The great GG. Code name 98,”
Everen's grip tightened. “Tell me,” he ignored the man's calling of his highly classified code name.
“He's been watching you for years,” the man said, and there was something almost gleeful in his voice. “Waiting for you to come home. Waiting for the perfect moment.”
“Who?”
The man smiled, and it was a terrible smile. “You'll find out soon enough. He's already made his move.”
Everen's phone buzzed in his pocket. He didn't reach for it. His focus was on the man in front of him.
“The dead man,” the man continued. “The one you killed tonight. He was supposed to deliver the message. But I guess you'll have to read it yourself.”
Everen's grip tightened until the man couldn't breathe.
“Last chance,” Everen said. “Who sent you?”
The man laughed again, choking on the sound. “You're already dead, GG 98. You just don't know it yet.”
Everen didn't hesitate. This man was useless but he knew his code bame. In one swift movement, tge man's neck snapped.
He dropped the body and stepped back. His chest was heaving. His hands were steady. He had… oh f**k.
He pulled out his phone and looked at the screen.
It was a photograph of Eleanor, gagged and bound, her eyes wide with terror. She was in a room somewhere, the walls bare without paint. Beneath the image was a message:
Unknown: Own the f**k up if you want her to live.
- Writer
