Rowan worked through the night.
After Ethan left—oblivious to the storm he had just triggered—Rowan silently locked the office door, lowered the reinforced blinds, and turned off the main lights. Only the pale glow of his encrypted monitors illuminated the room.
He didn't hesitate.
He pulled up the one database he had sworn never to access again.
Level 7 Restricted: Witness Protection Program.
Encrypted beyond normal clearance.Monitored, audited, impossible to open without leaving traces.
But Rowan Hale knew every backdoor. He'd helped build some of them.
Still, his fingers trembled.
For the first time in two years, he typed the name he had forced himself to bury.
Roselyn Young
The system paused—a heartbeat of silence—before it began verifying his identity across multiple layers.
A soft chime.
FILE FOUND
Status: PROTECTED – SLEEP MODE
New Identity: ELENA VAUGHN
Location: SEALED
Rowan's breath escaped in a sharp, controlled exhale.Not relief. Not shock.
Something heavier.Old grief. Buried guilt. A fierce, protective ache that had never dulled.
"Elena…" he whispered. "You're really still out there."
He opened the file.
Most pages were thick with redactions—long black slabs of classified censorship—but the fragments visible twisted something inside him.
Age: 26
Protection Basis: Surviving witness to Project Seraphim human experimentation
Medical Notes: [REDACTED] / organ damage recovery / ongoing therapy
Psychological Evaluation: Trauma indicators / dissociation episodes / fear-trigger responses
Surveillance Level: Low (subject displayed strong desire to live normally)
Last System Update: 3 years ago
Three years.
Three years without a check-in, without health updates, without movement logs. They had cut her loose—let her vanish into a new life—and kept Rowan out of everything.
Because he was "too invested."Because they feared his judgment would cloud.
As if caring about her was a liability.
He clenched his jaw so tightly it cracked.
Rowan didn't bother with protocols. He forced open the sealed location tag—each restriction warning flashing bright red.He bypassed them all.
Finally, the line appeared.
Current Location: RETURNED TO HOME COUNTRY
Occupation: Trainee Doctor (Year 1)
Facility: CENTRAL GENERAL MEDICAL CENTRE
Rowan stood so abruptly his chair crashed backward onto the floor.
"She came back… and they didn't tell me."
He grabbed his jacket—ready to storm out, drive to the hospital, drag her into safety if he had to—
A sudden notification pulsed red across his monitor.
////////////////////////HIGH-THREAT ALERT
Subject: Rambo (Alias: Surgeon of Shadows)
Recent Movement: Border Crossing—Unverified
Threat Level: ESCALATING////////////////////////
Rowan froze.
Rambo.The man who mutilated Roselyn.Who hunted witnesses like game.Who was still out there—unfinished, unpunished.
And now moving.
If Rambo was active, if he was hunting again—
Roselyn—Elena—was in danger.
Rowan's pulse shifted from panic to lethal calm.
He had two missions now.
Find her.And stop the monster who destroyed her life.
He tapped his encrypted comm line.
"Control, this is Captain Hale. Initiate silent surveillance protocol on Central General Medical Centre. Full perimeter, internal access, the works."
The operator's voice crackled softly. "Copy, Captain. Any specific target?"
Rowan hesitated.
Not because he didn't know the answer—but because saying her name aloud, under official channels, felt like exposing her.
But he forced himself.
"One female trainee doctor. Elena Vaughn. Do not approach her, do not interact with her. Just eyes on. Immediate report of any unusual activity."
"Understood, Captain."
He cut the line.
His hands curled into fists as he returned to the screen.
Her updated ID photo stared back at him—Elena with longer hair, tired eyes, a faint, practiced smile that didn't reach her gaze. Braver. Older.Lonely.
She had healed without him.Suffered without him.And built a new life while people like him stood behind walls of orders and classified files.
"Roselyn…" he whispered. "What did they do to you? And why were you forced to carry all of it alone?"
He grabbed his keys.
Tonight, he wasn't an agent.Not a captain.Not a decorated operative.
Tonight, Rowan Hale was simply a man who made a promise:
He would find her.
He would protect her.
And he would never let her vanish again.