The rain hadn't stopped in three days. A fine mist blurred the windows of the small cabin nestled deep within the Blackwood Forest, two hours north of Oslo. Inside, Ethan Ward sat in a wooden chair, staring at a blank laptop screen, the cursor blinking like a silent heartbeat.
He hadn't touched a keyboard in almost two years.
Outside, the wind whispered secrets through the trees. A storm was coming—he could feel it. Not the kind born of clouds, but the kind that changed lives. Or ended them.
Then came the knock.
Three quick raps. A pause. Two more. The pattern chilled him. No one knew that knock except one man.
Ethan moved fast. He crossed the room, opened the hidden compartment in the floorboard, and drew a matte-black Glock. With silent steps, he approached the door. Another knock. Louder this time. Urgent.
He opened the door with the barrel raised.
A figure stumbled in, soaked to the bone, clutching his side. Blood. Too much of it.
"Jakob," Ethan whispered.
Jakob Lang, once the best white-hat hacker Interpol had ever recruited, now looked like he'd crawled through hell. He collapsed into Ethan's arms.
"They know," Jakob rasped. "They found me. I didn't talk."
"Who?" Ethan asked, already dragging him to the couch.
Jakob shoved a USB stick into Ethan's hand. "It's back. Shadow Protocol. It was never deleted. It's buried in the financial deepness—military-grade crypto. Someone's trying to wake it."
Ethan's blood turned cold.
"That protocol was erased after Prague."
Jakob coughed hard. "No. Hidden. Covered up. I think... someone inside Interpol. High up."
His voice faltered. "You're the only one left who can decrypt this. You need to run."
Ethan grabbed a towel, pressing it to Jakob's side. "No. I'm not running again."
Jakob gave him a weak smile. "Still stubborn as hell. Good." Then his eyes rolled back. His head fell sideways.
Ethan checked for a pulse.
Gone.
For a long moment, Ethan didn't move. The rain tapped the windows like a metronome counting down. He stared at the USB stick in his palm, fingers tightening around it.
Whatever Shadow Protocol was, someone had just killed to keep it quiet.
Ethan stood, heart hammering. He moved to the laptop, plugged in the drive, and watched as the screen flickered to life.
One file. Encrypted.
Below it, a message:
"RUN. THEY'RE ALREADY HERE."
At that moment, a red dot appeared on the wall beside him. Then another.
Ethan dove.
The cabin windows shattered
as bullets tore through the wood.
---
End of Chapter 1