It was just after 9:00 a.m. The girls were off to school, Emily had headed to the studio, and Ryan—still wearing pancake batter on one sleeve—was finally alone.
Or so it seemed.
The moment the front door clicked shut, he walked casually to the hallway closet, reached behind a stack of folded towels, and tapped a hidden panel.
Click.
A narrow drawer slid out.
Inside: a red envelope sealed with wax.
Ryan's face changed in an instant. The dad, the husband, the goofball—gone. In his place stood Veltrix, silent and focused.
ONYX CORE didn't call often. When they did, it was never for anything small.
He cracked the seal.
Inside, a card. Matte black, scrawled with coordinates, a time, and a single name in scarlet ink:
"LARSEN."
His eyes narrowed. Larsen wasn't a target. He was worse—a ghost from Ryan's past. A former ONYX CORE operative who went dark and dirty years ago. Untraceable. Unstoppable.
Until now.
Ryan folded the card and slid it into his jacket. He glanced toward the living room, where the kids had left their blanket fort standing.
He couldn't let them know.
Couldn't let her know.
Later That Day – The Newsroom
Emily glanced at her phone between takes. One unread message. No name, just a number. One line of text:
"Your husband isn't who you think he is."
Her brow furrowed.
She deleted it.
But her hands trembled slightly as she fixed her hair before the next segment.
Back at Home – Night
The girls were asleep. Emily curled up on the couch with a blanket, reading a true crime book. Ryan sat beside her, calm on the outside. Inside, his mind ran through escape routes, contact signals, gear caches.
"Do you ever get the feeling," Emily said suddenly, "that something's just… off?"
Ryan looked at her.
She turned the page slowly. "Like, people close to you might be keeping secrets?"
Ryan smiled faintly. "We all keep secrets."
She looked at him. "Yeah. But yours are loud."
He kissed her forehead. "Then I'll just have to whisper them better."
She laughed, but the tension lingered. Just a touch.
Midnight – The Garage
Ryan opened the back panel of their fake water heater. Inside, a suitcase. Weapons. Gadgets. A black tactical suit. One final note from ONYX CORE:
"You only get one shot at Larsen."
Ryan locked the panel shut and whispered, "Time to disappear again."
[TO BE CONTINUED…]