The First Name
245 Words
📘 Chapter 13: The First Name
Jay opened the laptop again that night. The decrypted files blinked on the screen like ghosts returning from the grave.
Lena sat beside him, silent.
He clicked open a folder labelled “Valken_ND5_Targets.”
A spreadsheet loaded.
Names. Photos. Status: deceased. Disappeared. Terminated.
Lena swallowed hard.
“These were the people they tested on?” she asked.
“Some,” Jay said. “Others were whistleblowers. People who got too close.”
He scrolled down.
One name stopped her cold.
SILAS VAREK.
“Who is that?” she asked.
Jay didn’t speak for a long moment.
“Silas was my handler,” he said finally. “He ran ground operations in Eastern Europe. He’s the one who gave me your father’s name.”
Lena’s throat tightened. “So he ordered the hit?”
“No,” Jay replied. “He approved it. Someone else ordered it.”
The screen flickered. The last column held a code: ALPHA-DUSK-04.
“What’s that?” Lena asked.
“A kill chain tag,” Jay said. “That’s how Halver tracks and activates silent operations.”
Her father’s death… was sanctioned.
It's not a panic move. It's not an accident.
Planned.
“And you carried it out?”
Jay’s voice dropped. “No. I disappeared before it was executed.”
“But you were supposed to.”
The room seemed smaller. The shadows are longer.
Now they had a name.
And names could bleed.
- Writer
