Shadows of Deception

Ethan Blackwood jolted awake, his breath ragged, chest heaving. Darkness engulfed the room, save for the faint orange glow bleeding through the blinds from a distant streetlight. Beads of sweat trickled down his temple, soaking into the already damp sheets. Another nightmare. The same nightmare. Cairo. Sand. Blood. Betrayal.

Running his fingers through his tousled dark hair, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. His loft apartment in the outskirts of Boston was a far cry from the war zones and shadowy alleys of his past, but the ghosts never respected geography. They followed, clung to him like a second skin.

He stood, stretched, and limped slightly toward the kitchen. His knee still bore the scar and pain of a mission gone sideways years ago. Whiskey or coffee? His eyes flickered toward the bottle on the counter, then to the clock. 4:17 AM. Coffee won. He flicked the switch on the old percolator, listening to the familiar gurgle as the machine sputtered to life.

His phone buzzed on the counter. Unknown number. Ethan hesitated. Calls at this hour never brought good news. Or, in his line of work, they always did—it depended on perspective.

“Blackwood,” he answered, his voice gravelly.

"Mr. Blackwood," a woman’s voice—calm, composed, with an undercurrent of urgency—spoke. “I need your help. Dr. Adrian Wells has disappeared. We believe foul play is involved.”

The name struck a chord. Dr. Wells. Neuroscientist. Pioneering work in memory retrieval and manipulation. Ethan had crossed paths with him during a contract years ago—security detail for a high-stakes conference. Nothing about Wells had seemed out of the ordinary then, just another scientist engrossed in theories beyond the comprehension of most.

“And you are?” Ethan asked, pouring himself a mug of black coffee.

“A concerned party with the means to compensate you handsomely,” she replied. “I believe you’re familiar with discretion.”

Discretion. That old friend. Ethan sipped his coffee, eyes narrowing. “Meet me in person. Noon. The Rusty Anchor on Tremont. If this is some kind of setup—”

“It isn’t,” she cut in. “You’ll understand when we meet.”

The call ended. Ethan stared at the screen for a moment longer before setting the phone down. He sighed. Trouble had a way of finding him, no matter how much he tried to bury himself in routine cases—cheating spouses, insurance frauds, missing pets. But this... this had the scent of something deeper. And that old itch—the one he’d sworn to ignore—scratched at the back of his mind.

The Rusty Anchor was a dive bar that reeked of stale beer and lost dreams, the kind of place where anonymity was the house specialty. Ethan slid into a corner booth, his leather jacket creaking as he settled in. Noon sunlight filtered through grimy windows, casting patterns on the scratched wooden tables.

She arrived five minutes later. Tall, poised, early forties with sharp eyes that missed nothing. Her tailored suit screamed government, though she carried herself with the caution of someone who knew not to trust titles.

“Agent Thompson,” she introduced herself, sliding a manila folder across the table. “Sarah.”

“Not one for pleasantries, huh?” Ethan muttered but opened the folder. Photos—Dr. Wells at a conference, another of him stepping into a black SUV. Then grainy surveillance shots: Wells outside his lab, timestamped two nights ago. Next, a blurry image of masked figures intercepting him.@@novelbin@@

“Kidnapped?” Ethan asked, eyes scanning the documents.

“That’s our working theory,” Sarah replied. “No ransom demands. No communication. He was working on Project Mnemosyne—officially, memory restoration therapies for dementia patients. Unofficially…” she hesitated, glancing around the bar. “They were exploring the possibility of memory implantation. Controlling perceptions.”

Ethan leaned back. “Dangerous game.”

“That’s putting it mildly. We need him found before whatever tech he developed falls into the wrong hands.”

“And you think I’m your guy?”

“You’ve dealt with extraction operations. Off the grid. You know how to operate in gray areas.”

Ethan closed the folder, gaze distant. Part of him wanted to walk away. He wasn’t that man anymore. But another part—the part that woke him at night, drenched in sweat—knew running never worked.

“Where do I start?” he finally asked.

Sarah slid a USB drive toward him. “His lab partner—Dr. Isabella Martinez. She’s gone underground. Find her, find Wells.”

Tracking down Dr. Martinez led Ethan to Cambridge, to a modest brick townhouse nestled between a bookstore and a closed café. He approached the door, senses alert. No obvious surveillance, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. He knocked twice.

Silence.

He knocked again. Footsteps inside. The door creaked open a fraction, revealing a woman with dark, wary eyes and tousled hair pulled into a hasty bun.

“I’m not interested,” she said, starting to shut the door.

“Ethan Blackwood. I’m looking for Dr. Wells. You’re Izzy, right?”

Her expression shifted—fear, recognition, then steely resolve. “Go away.”

“He’s in danger. You are too.”

“I said—”

“Listen,” Ethan interrupted, “I don’t care what secrets you’re hiding, but I’m not here to hurt you. Wells is missing. People who took him won’t stop with just one scientist.”

Izzy’s grip on the door loosened. She glanced down the street, paranoia etched into every movement, before ushering him inside.

Her living room was cluttered—papers, empty coffee cups, a whiteboard filled with complex neural diagrams. Ethan’s gaze settled on a photograph of Izzy and Wells, smiling in front of a university banner.

“Who took him?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t know,” Izzy sighed, collapsing onto the couch. “But he said he was close to a breakthrough. Something about mapping consciousness. The last few weeks, he was jumpy, paranoid. Said people were watching us.”

“Any names?”

She hesitated, then reached for her laptop, typing rapidly. A file opened—encrypted. “He gave me this before he vanished. Said if anything happened, to find someone who could help. Guess that’s you.”

Ethan inserted the USB Sarah gave him. Files merged. Images, documents... a logo appeared—SynTech. His jaw tightened. Victor Kane. That name hadn’t surfaced in years. Tech mogul. Philanthropist on paper, but whispers in the intelligence community painted a darker picture.

“What’s SynTech want with memory tech?” Izzy asked.

“Control,” Ethan muttered. “Information is power. Memories shape reality. Change one, you can rewrite someone’s truth.”

Izzy paled. “They can’t use this. It was meant to heal, not—”

“Intent doesn’t matter. Weaponizing tech like this? Someone’s already two steps ahead.”

A crash outside—glass shattering. Ethan’s reflexes kicked in. He pulled Izzy down just as the front window exploded inward. Masked figures stormed in, weapons drawn.

“Move!” Ethan barked, dragging Izzy toward the back door. Bullets ripped through drywall as they ducked into the alley. Adrenaline surged, every step calculated. A black SUV screeched to a halt at the alley’s end.

“We’re boxed in!” Izzy gasped.

“Not yet.” Ethan sprinted toward the fire escape, yanking her up the ladder. Rounds pinged off metal as they climbed. Reaching the rooftop, he scanned the cityscape. Options limited.

“They won’t stop,” Izzy panted. “What do we do?”

Ethan’s gaze hardened. “We fight back.”

And as the Boston skyline stretched before them, Ethan knew one thing for certain—the past wasn’t done with him. And this time, the stakes were higher than ever.