Chapter 17 - Shadows on the Horizon
Six months later, the Orsini-Hartley conglomerate stood completely unrivaled. The syndicates of Europe, Asia, and the Americas had all signed non-aggression pacts, recognizing that crossing the new power couple meant swift, absolute economic and tactical annihilation.
Life in the penthouse suite had settled into a rhythm of quiet power and deep, unshakable trust.
Until a rainy Tuesday afternoon when Maya, Josephine’s executive assistant, buzzed through the secure terminal with an urgent voice.
“Mrs. Orsini? You need to look at the global satellite tracking feed on channel four right now.”
Josephine stepped away from the conference table, tapping her console to pull up the live feed. On the high-definition monitor, a secure cargo freighter belonging to their primary maritime route in the North Atlantic had suddenly gone dark off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Raphael, standing by the window reviewing architectural blueprints, looked up instantly. “What happened to the signal?”
“It didn't just lose connection,” Josephine said, her eyes narrowing as she zoomed in on the emergency transponder logs. “The vessel was boarded. But not by pirates or rival syndicates. The onboard security logs show a clean, military-grade cyber override.”
Raphael walked over to the console, his expression darkening as he recognized the digital signature embedded in the ship's override code—a small, encrypted string of numbers that hadn't been seen in over a decade.
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“The Ghost Protocol,” Raphael muttered, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “I thought the international intelligence black-ops unit that trained Thorne was disbanded twenty years ago.”
“It wasn't disbanded,” Josephine said coldly, picking up her tablet. “It was rebranded. And someone high up in federal intelligence is trying to test our borders.”
