Chapter 6 His True Nature

• The explosions rattled Manhattan's financial district like an earthquake, sending shockwaves through glass towers and into the streets below.
• David threw himself over Sarah as dust rained down from the ceiling, his body instinctively shielding her from the explosion he'd just unleashed.
• "What did you do?" Jonathan Blake's voice cracked as he stared at the flames visible through his office windows. "Those are my buildings!"
• "Correction," David said, helping Sarah to her feet. "Those were your money laundering operations. Marcus has very detailed intelligence on Crimson's financial infrastructure."
• Sarah's hands were shaking as she gripped his arm. "David, I don't understand what's happening. Who is Marcus? Why are there explosions?"
• David's heart clenched at the terror in her voice.
• Three years of marriage, and she'd never seen him as anything more dangerous than a man who occasionally had nightmares.
• Now she was learning that her husband commanded armies.
• "I'll explain everything," he said. "But right now we need to move."
• Jonathan was frantically dialing his phone.
• "Security! We need immediate.." The line went dead. He tried again. Nothing.
• "Your security team is indisposed," David said. "Along with your backup communications and your private elevator access. My people are very thorough."
• The building's emergency lighting kicked in as the main power failed.
• Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Manhattan looked like a war zone.
• Fire department sirens wailed in the distance, but David knew they wouldn't reach the upper floors in time to help Jonathan Blake.
• "You're insane," Jonathan snarled. "Do you have any idea what you've just done? Crimson Industries has contracts with half the governments in the Western world. We have assets, allies…"
• "Had," David corrected. "Past tense. In approximately six minutes, similar operations will commence in twelve cities across four continents. By morning, Crimson's operational capacity will be reduced by seventy percent."
• Sarah stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language. "Twelve cities? David, how many people work for you?"
• David's secure phone buzzed. Marcus Rodriguez, tactical update.
• "Ghost Six, targets Alpha through Charlie are neutralized. Local law enforcement is responding, but we're clear. ETA to your position is eight minutes."
• "Copy. Prepare for VIP extraction. One additional passenger."
• "Roger that."
• David ended the call and looked at Sarah's pale face. She'd heard every word, processed the implications. Her husband wasn't just connected to military operations…he was commanding them.
• "Sarah," he said gently, "I need you to listen very carefully. In a few minutes, some very professional people are going to help us leave this building. They work for me, they're not going to hurt you, but they might seem scary."
• "Scary how?"
• "They're soldiers. And they've been waiting three years for me to come back."
• The conference room door exploded inward as armed figures in tactical gear flooded the space.
• Sarah screamed and grabbed David's arm, but he remained perfectly calm as six weapons trained on Jonathan Blake.
• "Evening, Ghost," said the lead figure, pulling off her helmet to reveal a woman in her thirties with short black hair and the kind of scars that came from real combat. "Been a while."
• "Elena Vasquez," David said, almost smiling. "Still running point on urban operations?"
• "Someone has to keep the kids in line." Elena's eyes flicked to Sarah, then to Jonathan. "Orders?"
• David looked at Jonathan Blake, who was pressed against his office windows like a cornered animal.
• The CEO's polished confidence had evaporated, replaced by the raw fear of someone who'd finally understood exactly who he'd been threatening.
• "Mr. Blake was just explaining Crimson Industries' business model," David said conversationally. "Something about war being business by other means."
• "Fascinating," Elena replied, not lowering her weapon. "Want me to demonstrate the difference?"
• "Not yet. Jonathan and I still have things to discuss."
• Sarah was staring at the tactical team with something approaching shock. These weren't regular soldiers or police officers.
• Their gear was too advanced, their movements too precise. They moved like they'd been working together for years, like they were extensions of David's will.
• "Who are these people?" she whispered.
• "My team," David said simply. "Well, part of it."
• Jonathan found his voice. "You can't do this. This is American soil. You're committing acts of terrorism…"
• "Terrorism?" Elena's laugh was sharp as broken glass. "Ghost Six spent eight years keeping terrorists from turning American cities into craters. Show some respect."
• "That was before," Jonathan said desperately. "He's a civilian now. Married, domesticated. He chose that life over this one."
• David felt Sarah's eyes on him, waiting for his response. Everything hung on what he said next…their marriage, her safety, the future they'd built together.
• "You're right," David said quietly. "I did choose that life. I chose Sarah over everything else I'd ever been."
• Relief flickered in Sarah's eyes.
• "But then you threatened her," David continued, his voice hardening. "You kidnapped my wife. You turned her career into a weapon against me. You made it personal."
• He walked to Jonathan's desk, picking up a framed photo of the CEO shaking hands with what looked like a foreign minister.
• Probably someone whose government Crimson had helped destabilize for profit.
• "The mistake you made, Jonathan, was thinking that choosing love made me weak. That becoming David Miller meant Alexander Kane was dead."
• David set down the photo and turned to face the man who'd tried to destroy his life.
• "Alexander Kane isn't dead. He's just been sleeping. And you've been very, very loud."
• Jonathan's phone started ringing. His personal line, the one only his most important contacts knew. He looked at David, who nodded permission.
• "Answer it."
• Jonathan's hands shook as he picked up the phone. "Blake here."
• Even across the room, David could hear the shouting from the other end. Panicked voices reporting explosions, coordinated attacks, financial assets frozen, operations compromised worldwide.
• "Sir, we've lost Singapore. The entire Pacific division is…"
• "London office is reporting multiple casualties..,"
• "…federal agents are seizing our accounts in…."
• Jonathan ended the call and slumped into his chair. "You've destroyed everything. Twenty years of building this company, and you've destroyed it in one night."
• "I've crippled your operations," David corrected. "Your legitimate business interests are untouched. Your shareholders will survive. Your employees will find new jobs. But Crimson Syndicate's war profiteering is over."
• Sarah stepped closer to him, her voice barely audible. "David, did you just... did you just attack people in twelve countries?"
• The question hung in the air like an accusation.
• David could see the moment she truly understood the scope of what he'd done, the resources he commanded, the violence he'd unleashed with a single phone call.
• "The targets were infrastructure," he said carefully. "Communications hubs, financial servers, weapons storage facilities. Minimal civilian casualties."
• "Minimal casualties?" Sarah's voice cracked. "You're talking about people's lives like they're statistics."
• "Because that's what they are." The words came out harder than David intended. "Jonathan's people have killed thousands of innocent civilians in proxy wars across three continents. Tonight's operation will save more lives than it costs."
• Sarah stared at him like she was seeing him for the first time. Which, David realized, she was.
• "This is who you really are," she said. "This is what you've been hiding from me."
• David felt the careful life he'd built crumbling around him.
• Sarah wasn't looking at him with love anymore. She was looking at him with fear and something that might have been revulsion.
• "Sarah…"
• "Don't." She held up her hand, backing away from him. "Just... don't."
• Elena cleared her throat. "Ghost, we need to move. NYPD is responding to the explosions, and federal agencies won't be far behind. This location is compromised."
• David nodded, but kept his eyes on Sarah.
• "Will you come with me?"
• "Where?"
• "Somewhere safe. Away from Jonathan's people, away from the fallout from tonight."
• Sarah looked around the conference room…at the tactical team, at Jonathan cowering behind his desk, at the Manhattan skyline lit by fires her husband had ordered.
• Her entire world had just been revealed as a lie, and the man she'd married was offering to take her deeper into that deception.
• "I need to think," she said finally. "I need to understand what's happening."
• "You can think once we're secure," David said. "But we need to leave now."
• Sarah's phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen, then showed it to David. Text from her mother:
• Sarah, come home immediately. The news is saying there are terrorist attacks in the city. We're worried sick.
• David read the message and felt his chest tighten. Margaret Morrison didn't know her daughter had been kidnapped. She was genuinely worried, reaching out to family in a crisis.
• "She doesn't know," Sarah said, understanding David's expression. "My mother, my father…they don't know about any of this, do they? About you, about tonight, about their business being connected to..."
• She couldn't finish the sentence.
• "No," David said. "They don't know."
• "But you're going to tell them. You're going to destroy their lives the way you just destroyed his." She gestured toward Jonathan.
• David looked at his wife…really looked at her. Sarah Morrison Miller, the woman who'd agreed to marry a broke security consultant because she loved him.
• The woman who'd defended him to her family, who'd hired a private investigator because she was worried about his nightmares.
• She was right to be afraid. Alexander Kane destroyed everything he touched. It was what he was built for.
• "I don't know," he said honestly.
• Elena stepped forward. "Ghost, decision time. We can extract both of you, or…"
• "Or you leave me behind," Sarah finished. "Let me go back to my family, pretend tonight never happened."