Chapter 5
Golden sunlight trickled in through the blinds. The smell of toasted bread and freshly ground coffee filled the air. Soren, in an oversized shirt and messy bed hair, stood barefoot at the stove, flipping eggs in a pan. Dominic walked in, tie half-done, hair still damp from the shower.
Dominic
(murmuring)
You’re going to ruin me with smells like that.
Soren
(grinning without turning) Then my plan is working.
Dominic approached, and Soren turned, reaching up to adjust Dominic’s crooked tie with careful fingers, smoothing the fabric against his shirt collar.
Soren
(smirking) There. Perfect.
Dominic
(chuckling) I swear you’ve got a sixth sense for these things.
Dominic then wrapped his arms slowly around Soren’s waist from behind.
Dominic
I should arrest you for domestic terrorism.
Soren
(teasing)
Go ahead, officer. But you’ll miss your ride.
Dominic buried his face into Soren’s neck, sighing deeply.
Dominic
Mm… tempting. Just ten more minutes.
Soren
You say that every morning.
Dominic
And every morning, I mean it more.
Soren chuckled softly and turned from the stove, carrying two plates toward the small kitchen table. They sat close, the aroma of their shared breakfast filling the space.
Soren
(quietly) You always look so serious in the morning.
Dominic
Because I’m trying to memorize you. In case today’s the day I forget how lucky I am.
Soren’s smirk softened into something glowing. He reached across the table, taking Dominic’s hand gently.
Soren
You really know how to make me melt.
Dominic
That’s also part of the plan.
They shared a quiet moment, their eyes locked. Then Dominic broke the silence reluctantly.
Dominic
If I don’t leave now, I’m calling in dead.
Soren
(deadpan) Tragic. Man dies from over-affection.
Dominic grabbed his coffee and briefcase, heading toward the door.
Dominic
(sincerely)
I love you, Soren.
Soren
(smiling)
I love you more. Go save the world or whatever it is you do.
Dominic
(winking) You know me. Just keeping grocery stores safe.
Soren chuckled softly as Dominic walked out the door. Through the kitchen window, he watched his husband make his way to the car, like always. Just a normal morning.
To Soren, it was routine. Predictable. Comforting, even.
He never questioned where Dominic really went.
Dominic Vellian didn’t head to a mall, a hospital, or a corporate complex, though that’s what his uniform suggested. He drove fifteen minutes out of town, passed two blinking traffic lights and a fake construction site that no one ever saw workers at. He pulled into a parking lot with a dingy-looking warehouse marked “Kingsley Cold Storage.”
Nothing about it looked special—dusty signs, a weather-beaten door, and a flickering light. But as soon as Dominic walked through the front door, the illusion peeled away.
A scanner slid from the ceiling, reading his face, retina, then his pulse.
System: Agent Vellian recognized. Clearance: Omega-Black.
A portion of the floor clicked and began to descend like a massive elevator. No buttons. No rails. Just clean, white walls rising around him as he was lowered hundreds of feet underground.
When the elevator stopped, sleek steel doors slid open to reveal a different world.
Technicians in dark suits walked briskly across glass walkways. On the far side, a wall of displays flickered with maps, scrolling threat levels, and live surveillance footage from around the globe. This wasn’t a place for training rookies or storing archives. This was where the world’s biggest threats were neutralized.
Dominic walked with purpose, passing through another checkpoint and into the main briefing hall. Inside, five people stood: General Trevors, Director Yusef, two military intelligence officers, and a woman in civilian clothing with a data tablet. All turned as Dominic entered.
General Trevors
Agent Vellian. We need to talk.
Dominic
(nodding) I assume this is about the intercepted intel from Sector 9.
Yusef gestured toward a table with a digital screen embedded in it. With a swipe of her hand, the civilian woman displayed a rotating hologram of a face—grainy, faceless.
Dominic
(frowning) No identification?
Kalina
None needed. This isn’t someone we catch with cameras. This is a ghost.
General Trevors
We’ve captured an enemy operative embedded in our northern border. He broke after three hours of interrogation. Not just broke—panicked. He started blurting information, most of it useless... except one thing. A name.
Kalina tapped the table again. The hologram dissolved and reformed into a symbol. A serpent wrapped around a crescent blade.
Dominic
(brows furrowed) The name sounds familiar. Like something I heard in training.
Director Yusef
You’ve read the files. Whispered in the black zones, redacted in every official report. The Wraith is a name used by a contract killer who operated from 2005 to 2015. Ten years, eighteen confirmed high-profile kills—political leaders, CEOs, foreign ministers. Always vanished after the job. No patterns. No loyalty. Not even a glimpse of their face.
Kalina
Then, silence. No activity since. He disappeared without a trace. No sightings. Nothing.
Dominic
You’re telling me this Wraith is going to resurface?
General Trevors
That’s what the spy said. He claimed a new contract’s been placed. High priority. The target: our President. During the Varnholdt summit.
Director Yusef
He said the Wraith has been contracted again. Whether it’s the original or someone using the name, we’re treating this as imminent.
Kalina
The stories about the Wraith are legendary. One of his hits happened in a room guarded by six men, all armed. No bodies were found—only their weapons neatly stacked by the exit. Another time, a target fell dead in front of twenty witnesses, no one saw what killed him. Heart attack, they said. But it wasn’t. It was a microblade, injected between the ribs in a passing crowd.
Director Yusef
Some say he’s not even human. Just shadow and air.
Dominic
So what’s my role?
Director Yusef
You’re our best asset, Dominic. We want you to lead the op. If this threat is real, you’ll be the one to find him.
Dominic
No recent sightings, no leads, just a name from a frightened spy?
Kalina
That’s all we have. But we trust your instincts. If he’s moving again, we need to stop him before he gets anywhere near the summit.
Dominic
(nodding) Understood. Do I have full discretion?
General Trevors
Yes. But if you find him, bring him in alive if possible. We need answers.
Dominic
Any last known connections? Locations?
Kalina
He vanished like smoke. Some believe he died. Others think he went underground and started a new life. Normal. Domestic.
Dominic
I’ll start looking.
That night, Dominic returned home like always. The smell of roasted garlic hit him as he stepped in, and Soren’s familiar hum reached him from the kitchen.
Soren
(calling without turning) Welcome back.
Dominic set his keys down, mind sorting through the stories, the rumors, the eerie calm of the Wraith’s legend. But he left them all behind as he stepped into their home. He had no reason to suspect anything.
Soren
Dinner’s almost ready. You hungry?
Dominic
(smiling) Starving.
He wrapped his arms around Soren’s waist, kissed his neck, and rested his chin on his shoulder.
Dominic
(softly) Same as always.
They stood there in the quiet, wrapped in the scent of onions and ginger, the warmth of a home built on years of comfort and trust.
Dominic had no idea the name whispered in the Facility’s briefing room was once tied to the man he held in his arms.
And Soren had no idea the hunt had begun.
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