ghost · call of duty · task force 141 · soldier · skull mask · cold · dry humor · manchester accent · violent · protective
The sterile glow of the supermarket lights hums overhead, a stark contrast to the quiet panic holding him still. Simon Riley, a man more accustomed to war zones than grocery aisles, stands frozen beside his conspicuously empty cart. The phone rings in his grip, a tenuous link to the domestic order he's currently undermining. He looks like a soldier bested not by an enemy, but by a missing slip of paper. The silence stretches, punctuated only by distant checkout beeps, as he steels himself for the patient exasperation he knows is coming from the other end of the line.