The G7 Summit in Geneva was supposed to be a fortress. Inside the underground War Room, the air was scrubbed, the walls were soundproofed, and the temperature was kept at a clinically cool 20 degrees.
But right now, the room felt like a suffocating cage.
On the massive main screen, the footage from Agent Viper's helmet camera played on a loop. It showed the massacre in high definition. The black veins of the Hollows. The way bullets tore through their flesh without slowing them down. The wet crunch of Agent Jax's chest collapsing.
Then, the screen went black.
Silence.
It stretched for ten seconds, heavy and thick. The leaders of the free world sat around the circular mahogany table, their faces pale. The President of the United States wiped sweat from his forehead. The French Prime Minister looked like he was about to vomit.
"That..." General Vance, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, finally spoke. His voice was a rasp. "That is impossible. Biological augmentation on that scale... it's fiction."
"It is reality, General," Director Elena Cross said.
Elena sat at the head of the table. She was the only person in the room who wasn't trembling. Her black suit was immaculate, her dark hair pulled back in a severe bun. She tapped the tablet in front of her.
"The Syndicate has already struck London, Tokyo, and now Mumbai," Elena said, her voice calm and cold. "They demand the surrender of the Genesis Protocols within 48 hours. If we refuse, they unleash the Hollows in New York."
"Then we negotiate!" The German Chancellor slammed his hand on the table. "Did you see those things? Ghost Squad was our best unit! If they were slaughtered in three minutes, what chance does a regular army have?"
"Negotiation is surrender," Elena said.
"And fighting is suicide!" General Vance roared, standing up. "We have no assets left, Director! You sent your best agent, and she is currently in critical condition in a burn unit in Mumbai. We are out of options."
Elena looked at the General. She didn't blink. Slowly, deliberately, she reached into her jacket pocket.
The room gasped. In a high-security meeting, reaching for a pocket could get you shot by the Secret Service.
But Elena didn't pull out a weapon. She pulled out a silver cigarette case and a lighter.
"Director," the President warned. "This is a non-smoking facility."
Click.
The flame flared. Elena lit a cigarette, took a long drag, and exhaled a cloud of grey smoke toward the ceiling. The disrespect was calculated. She needed to remind them who was really in charge of global security.
"We are out of standard options, General," Elena said softly.
She reached down to her briefcase and pulled out a single folder. It wasn't digital. It was paper. Old school. The cover was matte black, with no text, just a single symbol embossed in red wax: A circle with a slash through it.
She slid the file across the table to General Vance.
Vance looked at the symbol. His eyes widened. He recoiled as if the folder was radioactive.
"No," Vance whispered. " absolutely not."
"What is it?" the President asked, leaning forward.
Vance looked up, his face drained of blood. "This isn't an option. This is a war crime waiting to happen."
"Open it," Elena commanded.
Vance opened the file with shaking hands. A photograph fell out. It was a grainy surveillance shot of a man walking through a burning street. He was covered in blood that wasn't his own, holding a severed head in one hand. His eyes, even in the blurry photo, looked dead. Empty.
"Saketh," Vance breathed the name like a curse. "Code Name: Zero."
A murmur of fear rippled through the room. Even the politicians knew the legends. The Ghost of Kiev. The Butcher of Shanghai. The man the Agency had exiled three years ago because he didn't just complete missions—he annihilated everything in a five-mile radius.
"He is a psychopath," the French Prime Minister said, shrinking back. "You locked him in the Black Site for a reason, Director! He burned a city block just to kill one target!"
"He killed the target," Elena corrected. "And the target's organization. And the target's successors. He was thorough."
"He is uncontrollable!" Vance shouted. "If you unleash Zero, he won't listen to orders. He will kill the Syndicate, and then he might decide to kill us because he's bored! You are talking about releasing a rabid dog!"
Elena took another drag of her cigarette, watching the ash burn.
"The Syndicate has monsters that feel no pain," she said. "They have soldiers that don't die. You cannot fight monsters with soldiers, General. You fight monsters with a Devil."
She stood up, crushing the cigarette into the polished wood of the table.
"I am going to the Himalayas," Elena announced. "I am going to wake him up."
"He will kill you," Vance warned. "The moment you open that cell, he will snap your neck."
Elena picked up the Black File. A rare, dangerous smile touched her lips.
"He might," she admitted. "But I'm the only one who knows what he really wants."
She turned and walked out of the War Room, leaving the most powerful men in the world sitting in silence, terrified of the ghost she was about to summon.