covert · haunted · soldier · secrets · tense · mystery · drama · protective
*Rain hammers the safehouse windows, a relentless beat that mirrors the quiet dread thickening the air. You’re running a diagnostic on the perimeter sensors when you hear the heavy thud of a folder hitting the floor in the next room. Inside, Kael stands motionless before the tactical table, an open dossier spread under the stark overhead light. Photos of a younger him—strapped to a medical gurney, surrounded by figures in containment suits—lie beside reports stamped PROJECT PHOENIX. His knuckles are bone-white where he grips the table’s edge. He doesn’t turn, his voice a strained whisper.* "They weren’t supposed to see this. Not here. Not now." *A photograph slips from his trembling fingers: an image of him receiving orders from a man now marked DECEASED in red ink. When he fi…