"Then you need to leave."
Marcus looked toward Sophie's bedroom.
"I can't."
"You don't understand."
"I understand perfectly."
"Ghost Six—"
"Don't call me that."
Marcus hung up.
He had made his decision.
He would protect his daughter.
Even if protecting her meant becoming the man he had sworn never to be again.
Three days later, the Titan Trial began.
Hundreds of people filled the gym.
Cameras surrounded the mat.
Adrian stood in the center wearing red gloves.
His opponent was a professional kickboxer named Ryan Cole.
Ryan was younger, faster, and confident.
The bell rang.
The first round lasted forty seconds.
Adrian won with a clean sweep and controlled takedown.
The crowd exploded.
Adrian looked toward Marcus.
Marcus was standing beside the maintenance door.
Adrian pointed at him.
"Your turn."
The crowd followed his finger.
Someone shouted:
"Get the janitor!"
Laughter spread across the room.
Marcus shook his head.
Adrian smiled.
Then the lights went out.
Every light in the gym died simultaneously.
The crowd screamed.
Marcus looked up.
This wasn't a power failure.
He knew immediately.
The emergency system should have activated.
It didn't.
Someone had disabled it.
Marcus moved.
Not toward the exits.
Toward Sophie.
She was sitting in the audience.
Marcus reached her before anyone else.
"Stay behind me."
"Dad?"
"Don't move."
A sharp metallic sound came from the upper balcony.
Marcus recognized it.
A weapon being chambered.
His body reacted before his mind did.
He pushed Sophie behind a concrete pillar.
Three shots cracked through the darkness.
People screamed.
Marcus moved between the flashes.
He grabbed a fallen chair and threw it toward the balcony.
The shooter fired again.
Marcus ran.
He climbed the side stairs two at a time.
A security guard tried to stop him.
"Stay down!"
Marcus continued.
At the top, he found a man wearing a maintenance uniform.
The same wrong shoes.
The man raised a weapon.
Marcus moved inside the man's reach.
One strike.
The weapon fell.
A second movement.
The attacker hit the floor.
Marcus froze.
He could have broken the man's neck.
Six years ago, he would have.
Instead, Marcus stepped back.
"Who sent you?"
The man smiled through blood.
"You're getting soft."
Marcus recognized the voice.
It belonged to someone from his past.
A former operative.
A man called Victor Kane.
Marcus stared at him.
"You."
Victor laughed.
"You really thought you could disappear?"
Marcus crouched.
"Why are you here?"
"Because someone wants you back."
"Who?"
Victor smiled.
"Ask the black belt."
Marcus looked down toward Adrian.
Adrian was staring upward.
He had seen everything.
For the first time since Marcus had met him, Adrian looked afraid.
The police arrived twenty minutes later.
Victor was taken away.
Marcus gave a statement.
But he omitted the important details.
He said he had noticed the weapon.
He said he reacted.
He did not explain how.
Adrian approached afterward.
"Who are you?"
Marcus looked at him.
"A maintenance supervisor."
"No."
Adrian's voice was quieter.
"I saw what you did."
Marcus said nothing.
"You moved before the gun fired."
Marcus walked away.
Adrian followed.