The Ghost General

Chapter6; The Collapse

Everen stared at the photograph on his phone if Eleanor gagged, bound and looking terrified.

He should have felt something. Relief, maybe. Or satisfaction. Eleanor had destroyed his marriage. She had intercepted his letters. She had poisoned his daughter against him.

But all he felt was cold dread.

Because this wasn't about Eleanor. It never was. This was about him. About the Ghost General. About every enemy he had ever made.

His phone buzzed again.

Unknown: 48 hours. Surrender yourself publicly. Or she dies.

Everen's jaw tightened. Forty-eight hours. They wanted him to expose himself, to reveal his identity and to surrender to the people who wanted him dead.

If he did it, his family would become targets. Every enemy he had ever made would come for them. Niva would never be safe. Nerissa would also never be safe.

But if he didn't, Eleanor would die. And Nerissa would never forgive him.

He looked at the dead men at his feet. Two bodies. Two killers. And someone out there, someone who knew exactly who he was. They knew his code name. They knew his history….basically everything.

He needed to get out of here. He needed to—

His phone rang.

Nerissa.

Everen answered. “Nerissa—”

“Everen!” Her voice was frantic, barely controlled. “Someone sent me a video of my mother. She's—she's tied up, and there's blood, and—”

“I know,” he said, his voice steady. “I got one too.”

“You got one too? What does that mean? Who would do this? Why would anyone—”

“Where are you?”

“I'm at the hospital. Niva is asleep. I don't know what to do, Everen. I don't—”

“I'm coming. Don't call the police. Don't call anyone. I'll be there soon.”

He hung up before she could argue.

Everen drove to the hospital, his hands steady on the wheel. This car had been given to him by the head of the military earlier when he had heard of his return

The streets were empty and the took the advantage and pushed the car as fast as he dared, driving through the silent roads.

He needed to see Nerissa. He needed to make sure she was okay. He needed to—

He pulled into the hospital parking lot and killed the engine. He walked through the automatic doors, his footsteps quick and purposeful.

Nerissa was in the waiting room, pacing back and forth. Her face was pale. Her hands were shaking. When she saw him, she rushed toward him.

“Everen.’ Her voice cracked. “What's happening? Who would do this? Why would anyone take my mother?”

“I don't know yet,” he said. “But I'm going to find out.”

Leontis appeared from the hallway, his expression one of practiced concern. “I heard what happened and I've already called the police. They're on their way.”

Everen's jaw tightened. “I told you not to call anyone.”

“And I told you that you don't get to make decisions here.” Leontis's voice was cold. “This is my family. I'm going to protect them.” Then his eyes widened as he came to the realisation of what he said.

“Your family?” Everen stepped forward, his hands clenching. “She's my wife. That's my daughter. And that's my mother-in-law, no matter how our relationship is.”

Nerissa stepped between them. “Stop it! Both of you!” Her voice was sharp, cutting through the tension. “My mother is out there somewhere, and you two are standing here fighting like children.”

She looked at Leontis. “I need to find her. I need to—”

“I'll help,” Leontis said gently. "I have the resources and ways to get a favour done. I'll find ger, don't worry.”

She nodded, her face crumbling. “Thank you.”

Then she looked at Everen. “And you—”

“I can help,” he said quickly. “I have resources too. I can—”

“Resources?” She laughed, hollow and broken. “You've been gone for eight years. You came back with nothing. You couldn't even pay for Niva's treatment. What resources could you possibly have?”

Everen opened his mouth to answer. But nothing came out.

Because she was right. He couldn't tell her. He couldn't expose himself. Not now. Not without putting everyone in danger.

“I'll find her,” he said quietly. “I'll find her, and I'll bring her home.”

"Just stay away," Nerissa said, and her voice was flat. "You've done enough."

She turned and walked toward Leontis, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Everen watched them for a long moment. Then he turned and walked out of the hospital.

He drove without thinking, his hands steady on the wheel. Soon he drove until the city disappeared and was replaced by empty roads and dark fields by the side. He drove until he reached the outskirts of town where there were no longer buildings and much streetlights.

He turned onto a narrow, winding road that seemed to lead nowhere. At the end of it, hidden behind a thick set of trees, stood a building that looked like nothing. It looked like a storage facility, rusted and abandoned, the kind of place that people drove past without a second glance.

Everen keyed in a code at the gate, and it slid open silently. He drove inside, and the gate closed behind him. The building looked abandoned on the outside, but the inside was something else entirely.

He stepped through the heavy steel door and into the main room. It was vast, larger than it looked on the outside. The walls were lined with monitors, dozens of them, each one displaying a different feed. Cameras. Traffic cams. Satellite feeds of every street in the city, he had access to all of it.

The surveillance system was his creation. A network of hidden cameras and sensors that fed into this room. It was invisible to the ordinary eye, undetectable by standard security measures. He had built it over years, piece by piece for days like these. Alas, the day had finally come.

As soon as he entered deeper, the lights turned on, the monitors flickered to life, casting a soft glow across the room.

Everen walked to the center of the room and stood before the main console. His hands moved across the keyboard, pulling up the feeds from his house, from the hospital, from everywhere Eleanor might have been taken.

The screens lit up with images. Streets. Traffic. The city laid bare beneath his gaze.

And then a voice came from behind him.

“Welcome back, chief.”