CHAPTER 4 — The Ghost Inside the Empire
Three days after the bombing attempt, Chase Holloway trusted fewer people than ever.
Victor Kane had confessed to selling information, but one question haunted everyone in the room.
"Who ordered the hit?"
Kane refused to answer.
Even after twelve hours of interrogation, he simply smiled through swollen lips.
"You already know."
Bishop slammed both hands onto the steel table.
"Tell us!"
Kane leaned back in his chair.
"The person you're looking for..."
"...still eats dinner with you."
Silence filled the room.
For the first time in years, Chase felt genuine uncertainty.
Someone inside his own organization had survived every purge, every loyalty test, every investigation.
Someone who knew his schedule, his habits, even which restaurant he would visit that night.
Back at the mansion, Chase quietly reviewed years of security footage.
Thousands of hours.
Nothing.
Then he remembered Gavin's drawings.
The boy never focused on the obvious.
He noticed reflections.
Backgrounds.
Things adults ignored.
Chase asked Bishop to bring every sketch Gavin had made that evening.
Together they spread dozens of pages across the conference table.
Most showed fountains, tourists, pigeons, and boats.
Then Chase noticed something.
Every drawing accidentally included the same man.
Not in the center.
Always in the background.
Sometimes reading a newspaper.
Sometimes feeding birds.
Sometimes talking on a phone.
Always wearing different clothes.
Always watching.
"Zoom in."
The security team enhanced each image.
Different outfits.
Different hats.
Different glasses.
But the same scar beneath the right ear.
"He was following us," Bishop whispered.
"No," Chase replied quietly.
"He was studying us."
Facial-recognition software finally found a match.
Former military intelligence.
Officially dead.
Declared killed in Syria seven years earlier.
Real name...
Adrian Cross.
Professional assassin.
Professional strategist.
Professional ghost.
If Adrian Cross was alive...
The bombing had only been the beginning.
That same night, Gavin woke to the sound of breaking glass.
Someone had entered his small house.
His mother rushed toward his bedroom just as a black-clad figure climbed through the window.
The intruder never spoke.
He simply searched the room with frightening speed.
Desk.
Closet.
Bookshelf.
Looking for something.
Gavin remembered the memory card.
He froze.
Had they discovered another secret?
Before the stranger reached the bed, floodlights exploded across the yard.
Bishop's security team surrounded the house.
The intruder escaped through the back window.
Leaving behind only one object.
A silver coin engraved with a raven.
Bishop stared at it for several seconds.
His face turned pale.
"I've seen this before."
"Where?"
"In Bosnia."
"Only one group used these."
"The Raven Circle."
Even Chase stopped breathing.
The Raven Circle wasn't just another criminal organization.
They specialized in eliminating entire crime families.
Without leaving witnesses.
Without leaving evidence.
Without ever failing.
May you like
Until now.
Because one little boy had interrupted their perfect plan.
