“An old warehouse district south of the city.”

Thomas nodded.

Dmitri asked:

“What are you thinking?”

Thomas didn't answer.

Instead, he looked at Elena.

“Did anyone else know you found the files?”

“No.”

“Then why were you locked up?”

“I think Preston saw me copying them.”

Thomas nodded.

“How long were you in there?”

“Almost two hours.”

Thomas glanced at the clock.

He calculated.

Then he looked toward the front entrance.

“Preston isn't going to wait until tomorrow.”

Dmitri understood.

“You think he'll come back?”

“He knows the drive is missing.”

“What do we do?”

Thomas looked at Elena.

“We leave.”

Dmitri blinked.

“Leave?”

“Yes.”

“And then?”

Thomas looked at the cameras.

“Then we make sure he thinks we're still afraid.”

The Man Nobody Saw

At 8:30 that evening, Preston returned.

His Mercedes stopped outside Apex.

Cole and Brett entered with him.

Preston looked around.

“Where's Elena?”

Dmitri stepped forward.

“She went home.”

Preston smiled.

“Did she?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

He looked around.

Then his eyes landed on Thomas.

Thomas was mopping.

Preston laughed.

“You still working?”

Thomas didn't look up.

“That's usually how employment works.”

Cole laughed.

Preston walked closer.

“You find anything interesting tonight?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

Thomas continued mopping.

Preston stared at him.

Then smiled.

“You know what I like about you?”

Thomas stopped.

“You're invisible.”

He pointed around the gym.

“Nobody sees you.”

Thomas looked at him.

“That's convenient.”

Preston leaned closer.

“Very.”

He walked away.

Thomas watched him in the mirror.

When Preston left, Thomas quietly removed his phone from his pocket.

He had recorded the conversation.

But that wasn't what mattered.

Something else did.

Preston had looked at the security cameras.

Not randomly.

He had checked the blind spots.

Thomas remembered.

He had seen him do it before.

The man wasn't merely arrogant.

He was trained.

Or someone had trained him.

Thomas went into the office.

Dmitri followed.

“What is it?”

Thomas closed the door.

“Your security system has been compromised.”

Dmitri frowned.

“What?”

“Someone has access to the camera network.”

“How do you know?”

“Because Preston looked at the cameras and knew exactly which ones weren't recording.”

Dmitri stared.

“Can you fix it?”

Thomas nodded.

“I already did.”

Dmitri looked surprised.

“When?”

“While you were talking.”

Thomas opened the monitor.

The camera feeds appeared.

Dmitri looked at him.

“Who are you?”

Thomas was silent.

“Tom.”

“I mean it.”

Thomas looked through the office window.

“I clean floors.”

“That's not what I asked.”

Thomas sighed.

He had hoped never to answer that question again.

But tonight, the past had found him.

“My name is Thomas Decker.”

“I know.”

“No.”

Thomas looked at him.

“You know the name on my payroll.”

Dmitri waited.

Thomas continued.

“Six years ago, I was Captain Thomas Decker.”

Dmitri's expression changed.

“Captain?”

Thomas nodded.

“Army.”

“What unit?”

Thomas looked away.

“Special operations.”

Silence.

Dmitri slowly sat down.

“Why are you here?”

Thomas looked at the mop in his hand.

“Because I got tired of people dying.”

Dmitri didn't know what to say.

Thomas looked at him.

“I don't want to be that man anymore.”

Then the office lights went out.

The building fell dark.

Dmitri stood.

“What happened?”

Thomas immediately moved toward the door.

“Stay here.”

He opened it.

A shadow moved across the hallway.

Thomas stepped forward.

The first attacker swung.

Thomas ducked.

The man's fist passed over his head.

Thomas caught his wrist.

One movement.

The attacker hit the floor.

Another came from the side.

Thomas turned.

A forearm strike.

A knee.

The man collapsed.

Dmitri stared.

Thomas stood completely still.

The old soldier was back.

For six years, nobody had seen him.

Tonight, somebody finally did.

And somewhere outside, Preston Harrington watched through the darkness.

He smiled.

“Now,” he whispered.

“Let's see what the janitor can really do.”

The Ghost in the Mop Closet

The fight lasted less than twenty seconds.

That was what frightened Dmitri most.

Thomas had not fought like an angry man.

He had fought like someone completing a task.

The first attacker was disarmed.

The second was restrained.

Neither was seriously injured.

Thomas checked both men for weapons.

Then he looked at Dmitri.

“Call the police.”

Dmitri stared.

“You're not going to explain?”

“Later.”

“You just took down two men twice your speed.”

Thomas looked at him.

“They weren't very good.”

Dmitri laughed nervously.

“You call that not very good?”

Thomas shook his head.

“Stay here.”

He walked toward the back exit.

Dmitri followed.

“Where are you going?”

“To find Preston.”

“No.”

Thomas stopped.

Dmitri grabbed his arm.

“You're not going alone.”

Thomas looked at the hand.

Dmitri released it.

“I don't want anyone else getting hurt.”

Thomas nodded.

“Then we need help.”

He took out his phone.

There was one number saved under a name he hadn't called in years.

Mara.

He stared at it.

Then pressed call.

A woman answered on the third ring.

“Thomas?”

He closed his eyes.

“Hello, Mara.”

Silence.

“You're alive.”

“So are you.”

“You said you were done.”

“I was.”

“What happened?”

Thomas looked toward the gym.

“Someone opened a door that should have stayed closed.”

Mara understood.

“How bad?”

“Bad enough.”

She sighed.

“I'll be there.”

Six Years Earlier

Thomas had been thirty-nine when everything changed.

His unit had been deployed overseas.

He had commanded a small team tasked with extracting civilians from a hostile region.

The mission had been simple.

In.

Find them.

Get out.

But intelligence had been wrong.

The civilians weren't where they were supposed to be.

Someone had leaked the extraction route.

Thomas had two choices.

Follow orders.

Or improvise.

He chose to improvise.

His team survived.

But three civilians died.

One of them was a twelve-year-old boy.

Thomas never forgot his face.

An investigation followed.

Thomas accepted responsibility for the decision.

He was not court-martialed.

He was not dishonorably discharged.

But he was changed.

He left the military.

He refused offers from private security companies.

He stopped training.

He moved cities.

He became Thomas Decker, maintenance worker.

Nobody cared where he had been.

That was exactly what he wanted.

Until now.

Mara

Mara Vance arrived at Apex just after midnight.

She was forty-five, tall, athletic, and carried herself with the quiet confidence of someone who didn't need to prove she was dangerous.

She had been Thomas's former operations partner.

She looked at him.

“You've aged.”

Thomas smiled.

“So have you.”

“I have better reasons.”

He almost laughed.

Mara looked around.

“What happened?”

Thomas explained.

When he finished, Mara stared at the flash drive.

“You realize what this is?”

“Evidence.”

“No.”

She shook her head.

“This is leverage.”

Thomas frowned.

“Against who?”

“Everyone.”

Mara pointed toward the videos.