As the conference buzzed with orders being executed, Daniel focused on a specific screen. An invisible energy beam, pulsing with nanometer precision, was being fired from one of his remote emitters, strategically positioned in New York for years, only now activated. This beam was not meant to destroy, but to destabilize. It tracked the nuclear device, adjusting the beam's frequency and intensity every millisecond, compensating for minute variations in the urban environment and natural electromagnetic fields. Hiseyesglowed with intense concentration, almost as if he could see the invisible beam penetrating the concrete and steel.
In his mind's eye, Daniel saw the tiny device, cloaked in a stealthy casing, hidden somewhere in densely populated Manhattan. He visualized its internal components—the primary detonator, the secondary detonator, the security circuits that would be bypassed by its specific frequency. With each passing second, the device approached its critical point, transforming from a theoretical threat into an imminent reality. Daniel's software projected the impact cone, a vibrant red area over the heart of Manhattan, signaling the potential annihilation. He could imagine the panic, the screams, the smoke, the final silence. The vision drove him.
Henry, sitting at his station, watched Daniel's monitor with a mixture of fascination and terror. He didn't understand the depth of the equations or the complexity of the algorithms, but he saw the countdown, the coordinates of Manhattan, and Daniel's unwavering face. The silence in the office was broken only by the hum of the computers and, on rare occasions, the snap of Daniel's fingers on the virtual keyboard, executing commands at a speed Henry could barely keep up with. He felt like a spectator in a high-tech war theater, where the curtain was about to fall on an unimaginable tragedy. Sweat dripped down his forehead, and he constantly wiped his hands on his pants.
At the conference, the voices grew more urgent. "Evacuation underway, Ghost!" the Pentagon general shouted, his face a mixture of relief and disbelief. "Perimeter established! Emergency responders in position! We are ready for your... mitigation!" His voice turned to a thread of hope.
"Excellent," Daniel replied, his voice maintaining its icy calm even as catastrophe loomed. "Destabilization frequency activation: three seconds. Time to detonation: ninety seconds." The faces on the screen were tense, some praying, others just watching withwide eyes, as if they were on the edge of a precipice.
Already mansionDaniel's family was gathering in the most secure wing, a state-of-the-art underground bunker beneath the main garden, camouflaged beneath an ornamental fountain. Elara was leading her parents, whose faces were etched with confusion and fear, and Thomas and Akemi, now hugging each other and pale.Aisha, with his elegant stature and quick steps, had already come forward and was waiting at the entrance to the bunker, his expression tense, hisdark eyesscanning the horizon through a small, armored gap, as if searching for the invisible threat. The air in themansiontrembled with palpable anxiety, even without knowing the exact nature of the threat. Antony, the chef, was ensuring all essential supplies were brought to the bunker, moving with surprising speed for his age. He might only be a chef, but Daniel had trained everyone on his team to handle emergencies.
Back in the office, Daniel's main screen showed the projected detonation point, now with a pulsing red circle above it, indicating its imminence. His emitter's energy beam was at the exact spot, pulsing. In a moment of unbearable tension, Daniel pressed the final command. A flash of green light shone in his eyes, reflecting on the monitor.
"Detonation in three... two... one..." the synthetic voice of the warning system counted down.
An invisible but massive electromagnetic pulse emanated from the Manhattan location, felt only by Daniel's advanced equipment. There was no explosion, but a catastrophic failure of the device's internal components, deactivating it in a split second. The impact cone graphic disappeared from the Manhattan map, replaced by a small, rapidly dissipating blue dot, indicating the device's neutralization and the containment of any residuals. Threat contained.
A collective sigh of relief echoed through the conference, a sound Daniel could hear through the audio, even through the digital compression layer. The Pentagon General let out a hoarse laugh, half-relieved, half-hysterical, his shoulders visibly relaxing. The Secretary of Energy wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. The Attorney General slumped in her chair, her hands still covering her mouth, herteary eyesof pure gratitude. The White House Counsel closed his eyes for a brief moment, before reopening them, filled with newfound awe and terror.
"Ghost... you... you did it,"Director Vancehe murmured, his voice filled with an admiration he could no longer disguise, a tone that seemed to echo the exhaustion of a battle won by the skin of his teeth. Hisblue eyesshone, and a genuine, exhausted smile spread across his face. "New York is saved. Millions of lives... saved." He repeated the word, savoring it, as if he couldn't believe the magnitude of what had just happened. The silence in Vance's office was now a silence of relief, replacing the frenzy of before.
Daniel just nodded slightly, without a hint of triumph in his expression. His face remained calm and serious, hishoney brown eyesalready turning to the other screens, where new threats, perhaps less imminent but equally dangerous, were beginning to unfold, offshoots of the same group that had planted the artifact in New York. "That's what I do,DirectorThe data you now possess isn't just about the artifact. It's about who built it, who transported it, who activated it, and the global network that enabled it. The real work now begins. This wasn't an isolated operation. It signals a new phase. There's more to come, and you hold the keys to dismantling the rest.
He had saved a city, but the fight was far from over. The morning breeze in Dubai blew gently across the vastmansion, but Daniel's mind was already miles ahead, mapping out the next steps in the complex and dangerous web of shadow warfare. Henry, still trembling slightly in his chair, watched his boss with a new level of awe and dread. He knew he was working with someone who operated on a whole new level, one few on Earth could even conceive of. And he also knew that the existence of this "Ghost" was the only thing separating the world from total chaos.
Daniel, the urgency still pulsing in his ears even with the warning silenced and the threat of New York neutralized, fixed his gaze onhoney brown eyeson the main screen in his office. There, the three-dimensional image of the deactivated nuclear device hovered in the air, suspended like a contained threat. The digital representation showed the internal components, complex and compact, now inert. The Pentagon general was leaning over the screen on his side of the conference, hissteel eyespeering into the image, his brow furrowed in an attempt to decipher the mystery.
"Everyone in the room," Daniel's voice echoed imperatively, cutting through the murmur of relief that still permeated the conference. "I need a full forensic analysis of the first artifact, immediately.Disassemble the equipment piece by piece now, on site.Each component is crucial evidence. And most importantly:weigh the separate components and the exact amount of nuclear product.I need precise numbers. The deactivation team I sent to the artifact's location, equipped with the frequency scanners I provided and the field analysis kits, is thirty seconds from the target."
The Secretary of Energy, his voice still a little choked with shock, but with a gleam of scientific curiosity in hiseyes, replied: "Dismantle on site? Ghost, that's... dangerous. Our explosive disposal team usually prefers to transport to a controlled environment for further analysis. The residual radiation..."
"There's no time for transportation, Secretary," Daniel interrupted him, his voice cold and sharp, leaving no room for objection or debate. HiseyesThey were fixed on the device's image, a pulsating point of light on their tactical map that represented its exact location in the urban environment. "Every second this device remains assembled, even if inert, is a risk. It was designed to explode with the slightest attempt at unsynchronized physical movement. My team is prepared. They have the most advanced training and equipment for this. They already have the HAZMAT suits and deactivation kits I designed for on-site collection and analysis. Just follow their instructions and transmit the images and all data to me in real time."
As Daniel spoke, the main screen split again, now showing live footage of the decommissioning team. Three figures in full protective suits, looking like astronauts in an alien environment, moved with calculated precision across a deserted Manhattan street. The air was thick, the gray skyscrapers looming like silent sentinels around them. They were approaching an industrial waste container, a gray, rusty object that seemed harmless but actually housed the nuclear nightmare. One of the figures, the team leader, with the Special Threat Response Task Force (STAR-TF) insignia discreetly embroidered on the shoulder of her suit, knelt with surprising agility, the material of her HAZMAT suit creaking slightly under the strain of her movements. She began assembling a handheld scanner and a tool bag, her thick nitrile rubber gloves barely moving, the surfaces of the devices reflecting the artificial light from the streetlights.
"The images are coming in, Ghost," the Pentagon General confirmed, his voice still hoarse but with a renewed urgency, watching the scene unfold in real time on the big screen in his underground bunker, the air heavy with the barely perceptible smoke of freshly brewed coffee. "We see it. Does it look like... a dumpster?" Hissteel eyesnarrowed in disbelief.
"The perfect camouflage," Daniel commented, without taking his eyes off.honey brown eyesof the images. He could see every detail of the scene—the rough texture of the container's oxidized metal, the faded graffiti on its side, the way the New York morning sunlight fell obliquely on the scene of the contained horror. "Something that blends into the urban landscape, invisible to even the most advanced systems. A ghost among ghosts. The thermal and electromagnetic signatures I detected are consistent with this model. It cannot be moved without analysis and deactivation."
The team in New York got to work. The lead technician, a burly man with calm etched into every movement, used a specialized tool to open a hidden compartment in the side of the container. The metallic sound of a latch releasing echoed through the helmet microphone, reverberating in Daniel's office in Dubai. An intricate network of colored wires, finely etched circuit boards, and an opaque metal cylinder with an eerie sheen was revealed. The enlarged image on Daniel's monitor revealed the device's disturbing complexity. The team leader, with a calm, professional voice, relayed the information in real time, her breathing slightly muffled by the helmet's filtration system. "Ghost, we're viewing the secondary detonator. Inactive. Structural integrity compromised in one of the supports. There are signs of accelerated corrosion by electromagnetic induction. Your pulse has been... surgical. Commencing disassembly."
"Proceed with the disassembly, piece by piece," Daniel instructed, his voice thick with precision. "Document everything. Every screw, every wire, every millimeter. The assembly sequence is as vital as the components themselves. Photograph from multiple angles. Most importantly, when you reach the fissile material, use the radiation measurement kits and precision scales."Weigh the amount of nuclear product.And tell me the exact type. Uranium, plutonium, or something more exotic. Double-check the measurements."
The Secretary of Energy, with theeyes shining with fascination and concern, intervened: "This is an unprecedented opportunity to understand the reverse engineering of these devices. Access to an inactivated warhead, in situ... is something we have never achieved so immediately."
"It's a necessity, not an opportunity, Secretary," Daniel corrected him bluntly. "We need every bit of information to stop what's coming. This isn't an isolated bomb. It's a pattern. My network has detected similar patterns in other key cities around the world. This isn't the only one. There are more."
The revelation fell like a silent bombshell on the conference. Faces that had been relieved minutes before were now contorted in a mixture of horror and a new urgency.Director Vancerubbed his temples, hisblue eyesclosing off for a brief second, as if the reality of what Daniel was saying was too much to bear. The desk in his office looked like a pile of paper debris. The Pentagon General gritted his teeth, his jaw clicking, the dry sound reverberating from his open microphone.
As Daniel spoke, on screen, the team leader in New York, with meticulous movements, used tweezers and tiny screwdrivers to unscrew the artifact's outer casing. Each piece was carefully placed in a shielded lead container. The technician beside him operated a handheld scanner, which emitted a soft hum as it mapped the internal components. At the top of Daniel's screen, in real time, 3D diagrams of the artifact being digitally "disassembled" appeared, replicating what was happening in the field. Each removed component was immediately weighed on a portable digital scale, the numbers appearing in a data window.