Ghost of the Program

Gabriel Voss stepped into the safe house like a man who had already made peace with dying. Again. He moved slowly, eyes sweeping the room. The team didn’t lower their weapons, but they didn’t raise them either.

Jessica’s pulse throbbed in her ears. "Sit. Talk. Now."

Voss exhaled, lowering himself into the chair like someone used to interrogation. He met their eyes one at a time. “You’ve read the name. Dug up the scraps. You know who I am.”

"We know you were erased," Leanna said, flat and cold. "The question is why."

He tilted his head slightly. “You already know that too.”

Jessica leaned forward, hands planted on the table. "Then say it out loud. What did you do?"

Voss gave a thin smile. "Memory restructuring. Behavioral alignment. You call it erasure. We called it clarity."

Jessica’s stomach turned.

Elias stiffened. "So you made people like me."

Voss finally looked at him. “No. I corrected you. Vanguard built tools. I made sure they didn’t break.”

Silence stretched, heavy and suffocating.

Jessica’s voice cracked the stillness. "And me?"

Voss studied her. "You were the one they couldn’t fix. The one who ran. That made you valuable."

Her breath caught. "No. I wasn’t one of them."

"Then why are you still alive?" His voice was quiet, not cruel. "Why do you think they still follow you?"

Jessica didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

Olivia broke in. "Why come to us now?"

Voss leaned back. "Because you didn’t kill Vanguard. You just forced it underground. It’s worse now. Hidden better. And I know where it went."

Leanna’s eyes narrowed. "Why betray them?"

His smirk faded. “Because I helped build the thing that’s coming next. And even I don’t want to see what happens when it gets out.”

Jessica leaned forward, voice low. "Then tell us."

A pause. Then two words: “Patagonia. Underground.”