Elias Thorne POV
I ducked just as a red laser beam sliced through the air where my throat had been a second before. I didn't think. I didn't breathe. My body just moved. It was like an old song I had learned a long time ago, and my muscles remembered every note. I rolled across the hard floor, my shoulder hitting the cold metal, and came up with my old Beretta pistol ready.
"Is that all you've got?" I whispered to the shadows.
I was inside the "Kill-Box." It was the most famous training room at Aegis Global. It was a giant square made of shifting walls, hidden traps, and targets that popped out of nowhere. Most recruits stayed in here for five minutes and came out covered in bruises and shame. The record for clearing it was twelve seconds, held by Captain Miller himself.
Outside the glass windows, I could see the blurry shapes of the other recruits. They were laughing. I could hear Miller's voice over the speakers, loud and mocking.
"Look at him crawl!" Miller yelled. "He's like a turtle in a dark room! Hey, Thorne! If you're scared, just hit the red button and we'll let you out to go find some warm milk!"
I ignored him. I closed my eyes for a split second. My ribs, the ones Miller had cracked in the gym, were screaming in pain. Every breath felt like a needle poking my lungs. But I liked the pain. It reminded me that I was still alive. It reminded me that I had a job to finish. I wasn't here to be a student. I was here to be a ghost.
"Maya," I whispered, my lips barely moving. "Are you in the system?"
"I'm in," her voice crackled in my ear. She sounded nervous. "But Silas I mean, Elias be careful. Miller did something to the settings. This isn't a normal training run. He turned the difficulty up to 'Lethal.' The drones aren't shooting paintballs anymore. They're using hard rubber rounds. They can break your skull."
"Good," I said. "It'll make it interesting."
"You have to fail, remember?" Maya reminded me. "If you beat the record, everyone will know you aren't just a 'nobody' sergeant. You'll have a target on your back."
"I know," I said. "But Miller needs to be taught a lesson. And I need to get to the third floor of this building. The only way to get permission is to show 'extreme potential.'"
I stood up straight. I stopped slouching. I stopped acting like a tired old man. I took a deep breath, feeling the air fill my lungs. I felt the silver scars on my face tingle. I wasn't Elias Thorne anymore. For the next few seconds, the Major was back.
"Ready?" Miller's voice boomed. "The timer starts on the first shot. Don't cry too loud!"
Beep!
The room exploded into motion.
A wall to my left dropped. Three drones flew out, spinning like angry hornets. I didn't even look at them. I fired three times. Bang. Bang. Bang. The drones didn't just fall; they shattered in mid-air.
I didn't stop. I ran forward. A floor panel flipped, trying to trip me. I leaped over it, twisting my body in the air. While upside down, I saw two targets pop up from the ceiling. I fired twice. Bang. Bang. Two bullseyes.
I landed on my feet and kept moving. I was a blur. To the people watching through the glass, I probably looked like a ghost moving through walls.
"What the?" Miller's voice came over the speaker, but he didn't finish his sentence.
I reached the center of the box. This was the "Dead Zone." Ten targets were supposed to pop up at once, spinning and moving at different speeds. This was where Miller's twelve-second record usually happened. He would take one second for each target.
I didn't take one second for each.
I planted my feet. I held my gun with both hands. I didn't aim with my eyes; I aimed with my heart. I knew where the targets were because I could hear the gears clicking in the walls.
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!
The sound was so fast it sounded like one single explosion. All ten targets fell at the exact same time.
I stood in the middle of the room, the smoke from my gun rising slowly toward the ceiling. The walls stopped moving. The lasers turned off. The lights came on.
I looked at the big digital clock on the wall.
03.2 SECONDS.
Silence.
Total, absolute silence.
I could see the recruits through the glass. They weren't laughing anymore. Some of them had dropped their clipboards. Miller was standing as still as a statue, his face white, his mouth hanging open. He looked like he had just seen a dead man come back to life. In a way, he had.
I took a deep breath and let my shoulders slump again. I put on my "tired" face. I made my hand shake a little as I put the gun back in my holster. I had to go back to being Elias.
The heavy iron door creaked open. Miller walked in. He didn't stomp this time. He walked slowly, like he was afraid of me. He looked at the shattered drones on the floor, then at the clock, then at me.
"How?" he whispered. His voice was shaking. "No one... no human can do that. That's a Black Raven score. That's a Ghost score."
I looked at him and shrugged. I tried to look as bored as possible. "I got lucky, Captain. I guess your 'Lethal' setting made the targets bigger."
"Lucky?" Miller grabbed my arm. His grip was tight. "You didn't even look at the ceiling targets! You shot them while you were in the air! Who are you, Thorne? Really?"
"I'm a guy who wants a job," I said, pulling my arm away. "Do I pass?"
Before Miller could answer, a slow, steady clapping sound echoed through the room. We both turned.
Madam Vera was walking toward us. She wasn't wearing her usual suit. She was wearing a long, black dress, and she had a strange look in her eyes—half-scared and half-excited.
"Captain Miller, leave us," she said.
"But Madam Director"
"Now," she commanded.
Miller glared at me one last time and scurried out of the room. Vera walked up to me until she was only a few inches away. She looked at my silver scars. She reached out a hand, almost touching them, but stopped.
"My father told me stories about a man who could clear a room in three seconds," she whispered. "He said that man was a myth. A legend. He said that man was the only person who could save the world if the 'Pantheon' ever woke up."
I didn't say anything. I kept my face like stone.
"You aren't Elias Thorne," she said. It wasn't a question. "Elias Thorne was a man who died in a prison fire three years ago. I know because I was the one who signed the death certificate."
My heart skipped a beat. Maya had told me the ID was perfect. But Vera was the Director of Aegis. She knew everything.
"I don't care who you are," Vera said, leaning in close. "But you should know something. The General didn't just come here to see the recruits. He's in the basement right now. He's meeting with someone from the Syndicate."
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.
"Because," Vera said, her voice trembling. "They are planning to kill my daughter tonight. They think she found the hard drive. They think she knows about Karsak Valley."
I stared at her. "Your daughter? What does she have to do with this?"
Vera pulled a small photo from her pocket. It was a picture of a young woman with long, dark hair and a kind smile.
"Her name is Claire," Vera said. "But the world knows her as Claire Sterling. She is the General's daughter... and mine."
The room felt like it was spinning. Claire was Vera's daughter? That meant the General was trying to kill his own child, and the woman in front of me was his ex-wife. This wasn't just a military betrayal. This was a family war.
"Save her," Vera pleaded, grabbing my hand. "If you are the man I think you are, save my daughter. I will give you the codes to the General's bunker. I will give you everything."
Suddenly, my earpiece screamed with static.
"Elias! Run!" Maya yelled. "The building is being surrounded! The General found out about the record! He knows a Ghost is in the box! He's not sending the Hounds he's sending an airstrike! He's going to level the whole building to make sure you're dead!"
I looked at the ceiling. I could hear a distant, whistling sound. It was the sound of a missile.
"Vera, get down!" I roared.
I lunged for her, tackling her toward the heavy metal door of the Kill-Box. If any room could survive a bomb, it was this one.
The world turned white. A deafening BOOM shook the earth, and the ceiling started to rain fire and concrete.
As the smoke filled the room, my phone buzzed one last time. It was a text from an unknown number.
I SEE YOU, SILAS. WELCOME BACK TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING.
I looked at the screen, my blood turning to ice. The General knew. The game of hide-and-seek was over. Now, it was just war.