Three rhythmic knocks echoed against the heavy oak doors of the executive office on the ninety ninth floor.
"Enter," Stan Edgar's voice answered, cutting through the absolute silence of the room.
The heavy doors opened and Graves stepped inside. He closed the doors securely behind him, ensuring the biometric locks engaged with a soft click. He held a leather bound folder under his left arm.
"You requested immediate notification of any anomalies matching our current threat profile, Mr. Edgar," Graves said, his voice a flat monotone. "I have two. Both occurred within the last twelve hours."
"Take a seat, Graves," Edgar instructed, gesturing to the chair opposite his desk. "I assume, given that you bypassed the standard Crime Analytics chain of command, these are not standard incidents of our assets engaging in typical self destructive behavior?"
"They are not, sir," Graves said, sitting down and placing the folder squarely on the polished wood between them. "We have two confirmed casualties. The first is Mesmer. Discovered in his apartment in Queens. The second is Splinter, a biokinetic cloner originating from the Sage Grove program. Discovered in a private VIP room at a nightclub in Chelsea."
Edgar leaned back in his chair, his hands steepled beneath his chin. "Two D-list assets. One a washed up telepath, the other a hedonist with a severe personality disorder. Neither of them holds any strategic value to this company. Why does this warrant my immediate attention?"
"It is not the victims that warrant your attention, sir," Graves replied, tapping the cover of the folder. "It is the methodology. They were killed within exactly thirty four minutes of each other. At locations on opposite sides of the city."
"A coordinated strike, then?" Edgar asked, his dark eyes focusing intently on Graves. "You believe this is the work of the same organization that orchestrated the Supe Party and the Sage Grove facility?"
"That is where the profile diverges, Mr. Edgar," Graves said. "Please, open the folder. Look at the preliminary autopsy report for Mesmer."
Edgar opened the folder, his expression remaining perfectly impassive as he scanned the first page.
"Read the primary cause of death to me, Graves."
"A single blunt force impact to the C1 vertebra," Graves recited from memory. "The spinal cord was completely pulverized. The sheer kinetic force required to cause that specific damage, without decapitating the target entirely, is immense."
"And the crime scene?" Edgar asked, turning the page.
"Pristine," Graves answered. "The door was deadbolted from the inside. The building's security cameras show no one entering or exiting his hallway for four hours prior to the estimated time of death. Furthermore, our sweep of the apartment yielded zero foreign DNA, no fingerprints, no hair follicles and no trace of forced entry."
Edgar slowly nodded, his eyes scanning the glossy crime scene photographs. "That matches the signature of our ghost organization."
"It does," Graves agreed. "But look at the second file, sir. The incident in Chelsea."
Edgar flipped to the next section. He studied the photographs for a long moment before speaking. "A nightclub. This is a significantly riskier environment than a locked apartment."
"Exactly," Graves said. "Splinter had rented a private room. He was in the company of a civilian female. Based on the residue, he had activated his power, creating four duplicates of himself. They were... engaged with the civilian when the attack occurred."
"And the cause of death?"
"A high velocity puncture wound," Graves stated, his voice devoid of any inflection. "It originated at the collarbone, driving downward at an extreme angle, punching a hole straight through the jugular vein and the trachea. Exsanguination was nearly instantaneous."
"What of the clones?" Edgar asked.
"They destabilized the moment the original host expired," Graves explained. "We were left with one corpse, one massive blood pool and the civilian."
"Did she see the attacker?"
"No, sir. She was unconscious. Our medical team found no trace of sedatives or narcotics in her system that would account for the depth of her coma. It resembles a neurologically induced sleep. A telepathic push, perhaps."
Edgar closed the folder. "So, we have a crushed spine in Queens and a punctured throat in Chelsea. Two different methods of execution. Thirty four minutes apart."
"Yes, sir."
"You stated earlier that this profile diverges from the previous massacres," Edgar said, his tone turning analytical. "Explain your reasoning, Graves."
"The Supe Party and Sage Grove were coordinated operations," Graves said, leaning forward slightly. "They utilized complex digital wiping of heavily encrypted corporate servers and the simultaneous executions of dozens of highly durable targets. Those events required a well trained team, logistics and support structures. They were military campaigns."
"And these?"
"These were intimate," Graves said firmly. "Look at the precision, Mr. Edgar. Splinter was killed in a room full of his own clones, yet only the original was targeted. Mesmer was killed quietly in his chair while his television was still running. The sheer speed of the strikes, moving from Queens to Chelsea, bypassing all security, striking with overwhelming localized force... it does not feel like a squad of operatives."
"You believe this is the work of a single individual," Edgar concluded, his voice a low murmur.
"A highly trained individual, yes," Graves said. "If the previous attacks were the organization making a statement, this feels like an operative tying up loose ends."
"But why these two?" Edgar asked, his eyes narrowing. "Mesmer is a washed up mind reader. Splinter is a forgotten biokinetic experiment. They have no connection to our current military contracts, no connection to Compound V distribution and no connection to each other."
"That is the variable we are currently analyzing, sir. It is possible they possessed information regarding the organization, or perhaps their specific power sets were deemed a threat to the operative's operational security."
"Or perhaps," Edgar suggested coldly, "the operative simply wanted them dead. Let us return to the forensics, Graves. You are missing a key component in your presentation. You have described the damage, but you have not explained the vector of attack. How does an assassin enter a locked room, generate the force to shatter a spine and leave without disturbing a single dust mote?"
Graves took a breath. "That brings me to the most disturbing aspect of our analysis, sir. We ran algorithmic simulations based on the angle and trajectory of the fatal blows."
"And what did the simulations conclude?"