The ghost at the table – Draft 03 – Chapter 4

Logan

My thoughts and the night were equally black. Lily’s face haunted me, her laughter now silent. I couldn’t shake the image, nor the anger that bubbled like a pot left too long on the stove. It was time to act, to make them pay for what happened to her. They thought they were untouchable, sitting pretty on their profits while we suffered loss.

I had mapped it all out. Every camera angle, every patrol route. The farm’s security was a joke, but not to me. This was serious business. Not tonight, a man won’t get lost in plans and blueprints. Tonight was about precision. Revenge needed to be cold; I was an icicle.

My fingers danced over the keyboard earlier, tapping into skills honed under military discipline. The RAAF taught me speed, efficiency—tools for a different kind of warfare. Now, in Meningie’s quiet, far from the command-and-control that broke me, I prepared to strike.

I slipped through the shadows, a ghost against the dark tapestry of the night. My body, heavy and usually cumbersome, moved with a purpose that belied its bulk. Blonde hair tucked under a cap, I was just another shadow among many. Acne scars pulled tight across my face; no one to see, nothing to fear.

The cameras were blind spots waiting to happen. I slid through them like water finding its way through cracks. Each step measured, breaths counted and shallow. Security guards, more illusion than deterrent, passed by without a glance. Farm boys playing at soldiers, they didn’t see the real enemy in their midst.

I reached the office—a small victory, but the night was young. Lily’s memory prodded me onward. Her name was a silent mantra on my lips. I was inside now, her avenger, her justice. The rest would unfold as meticulously as my plan.

The lock clicks. A soft sound, but like a gunshot to my ears. Office door opens. I step in. Heart’s drumming a frantic beat. Can’t afford mistakes. This is for Lily.

Desk first. Check drawers. Quick, quiet. Papers, pens, nothing. Move on. Eyes scan. Searching for something, anything to use against them. The farm hums outside. Inside, silence is a co-conspirator.

I shuffle through documents on the desk. Invoices. Receipts. Useless. I need more. My fingers itch. Revenge is close—I can taste it. Sour and sweet. A hidden gem in this dust-coated room.

Then, I see it. A painting. Out of place. Why here? Farm scenes and horses everywhere else. But this one—abstract, cold. Doesn’t belong. Curiosity pricks. I approach. A closer look. Edges don’t sit flush against the wall.

My hands reach out. Touch the frame. Lift gently. It gives way—a door masquerading as art. Pulse races. There’s a safe. Grey, old, solid. They think it’s secure. I smile. They’re wrong.

A feeling washes over me. Satisfaction. It’s more than a box of metal. It’s their Achilles’ heel. Strike here and the whole place limps. Maybe falls. For Lily. For justice.

My mind whirls. Next steps. Plan was to grab what I could. Never dreamed of this jackpot. Safe might hold cash, dirt, the keys to their downfall. Got to get inside. But that’s a problem for another minute. Right now, I soak in the triumph.

“Cracking safes wasn’t in the job description,” I whisper. No one hears. Just me and the dark. But the shadows around me seem to nod in agreement. I found the pressure point. Now, just need to press.

Fingers dance. Numbers spin. I listen. Clicks tell tales. Old skills don’t rust. The safe groans, a whispered secret. It clicks open—victory.

“Hello, payday,” I mutter.

The door swings. Light from my headlamp spills in. Eyes wide. Cash. Bundles of it. A treasure in green and gold. My heart slams against ribs. This means war. They won’t recover easy.

I stuff the notes into my bag. Quick. Efficient. Bulging pockets remind me of what’s at stake. Each bill screams retribution. The farm will feel this. Lily’s memory demands it.

Records next. Neat files. Numbers and names. Transactions. Proof? Maybe. Evidence of their guilt. The camera comes out. Snap. Snap. Every page. Shadows hug me like old friends. They’re all I have left.

“Gotcha,” I say to the papers. To the farm. To those who forget.

My hands shake. Adrenaline. Rage. Need for justice fuels every move. Lily’s gone, but not silenced. Not while I breathe. Her story, our story, clings to these documents.

“Let’s see how you run now,” I talk to the darkness. But there’s no time for gloating. Got to move. Got to disappear into the night. Silent as a ghost. Deadly as truth.

Time to rethink the game. Cybercrime. That’s where I’ll strike next. Invisible. Untouchable. They won’t see me coming. Won’t know what hit them until it’s too late.

I zip up the bag. One last look around. Empty room. Empty lives. Not for long. I’ll make sure of that.

“Watch your back,” I whisper to the shadows. They don’t answer. Never do. But they know. They always know.

With a deep breath, I step back into the blackness outside, the cold air biting at my flushed cheeks. The taste of revenge lingers on my tongue, bitter and relentless. Lily, this is just the beginning.

The air’s crisp. Razor sharp. I pocket the last of the cash, ready to vanish into it. My heart’s a hammer inside my chest, building a rhythm for escape.

That’s when I hear it. Footsteps. Soft but growing louder. Closer. Panic hits like a freight train.

“Damn,” I mutter under my breath. Think, Logan. Think!

Eyes dart. A closet. It’ll have to do. I slip inside. The door closes with a hush. Darkness wraps around me, tight and suffocating.

I’m still. So still. Can’t even hear myself breathe. Footsteps now thunder in my ears. They’re here. In the office.

“Anything?” a voice grumbles. Security. Got to be.

“Quiet as the grave,” another replies. I bite down on my lip. Hard. Taste blood.

“Check the safe.”

My gut twists. They can’t know. They just can’t.

“Looks fine. You tripped the alarm again, didn’t ya?”

“Maybe.” A pause. “Let’s clear out.”

Relief floods in, cold and shaky. Not caught. Not yet. But they’re on edge now. This game’s changing. Quick.

“Got to be smarter,” I whisper to myself. No more brute force. Cyber shadows are where I’ll dance next. Lily deserves that. She deserves clever.

As the sound of their steps fade, I’m left with the echo of my own heartbeat. And a vow. For Lily. For justice. Every keystroke will be a reckoning.

Time crawls. I’m in the closet, heart thundering against ribs like a caged bird. The dark is a blanket, thick and suffocating. I close my eyes. Focus. Lily’s face swims behind my lids. This is for her. Mustn’t get caught. Not now.

“Nothing here,” one of them says. Their voices are muffled by the wood door separating us.

“Too many damn spiders,” the other grumbles.

“Let’s roll out. Damn sensors are too sensitive.”

I count their steps. One, two, three… fading. I can’t move. Not yet. Breathe, Logan. Just breathe. My fingers twitch against the cool metal of the cash I pocketed. It’s not just money. It’s a message. A promise.

Silence falls like dust. They’re gone. I wait. Count sixty heartbeats. Then, another sixty. Can’t rush this. Mistakes happen when you rush.

Finally, I press an ear to the door. Nothing but the distant hum of the farm at night. Slowly, I ease the door open. An inch. Two. Peek through the crack. Clear.

I slip out. The office feels different now. Like it knows what I did. What I’m about to do. I glance at the safe, still hanging open like a mouth in shock. Sorry, not sorry.

My steps are careful, measured. Every muscle coiled, ready to bolt. Outside, the stars are cold pinpricks in a black sky. They don’t care about Lily. But I do.

I hit the open field and start to run. The cash presses against me with every stride. It’s just the beginning, I think. Just the start of the war I’m waging.

Friendship would be nice. Someone to watch my back. But I’ve only got shadows and silence as my company tonight. And maybe that’s all I need. Shadows don’t betray you. Silence doesn’t lie.

Lily, I’ll make them pay. Every single one.

The farmhouse fades behind me. Ahead, endless fields. And beyond that? Possibilities. Cybercrime’s a new frontier. No fences there. Just lines of code and digital tracks.

I’ll learn. Adapt. Survive. For Lily. For justice. For everything they took from us.

Panting, I duck behind the silo. My breath’s a ghost in the cold night. I risk a look back. Floodlights have come to life, sweeping the ground where I just stood. Close call.

“Should’ve known,” I mutter to myself. High-tech security—new cameras that weren’t here last week. Motion sensors, probably. They’re upping their game. But so can I.

I press my back against the cool metal, feeling the ridges bite into my skin. The farm’s grown paranoid. Lily’s death—it shook them. Scared them. Good.

“Can’t keep doing this,” I say softly. Physical break-ins? Too risky now. Got to be smarter. Use what I know. The keys beneath my fingers, not lockpicks. Go digital.

The fields around me are still. The only sound is the distant bleating of sheep. It’s dark but for the stars and those damn lights. Makes you feel small. Alone. That’s fine. Alone means safe. Alone means control.

“Time to change tactics,” I whisper, thinking about the farm’s network. The way they store data. Financials. Shipments. All online. Hackable.

“Need a plan.” No room for error. Cybercrime is different. It’s quiet. Invisible. You don’t run from security guards. You run from firewalls and encryption.

“Fast fingers win,” I remind myself. RAAF taught me that. Type like the wind. Code and decode. Messages that could change lives—end them, even—flowed through my hands once. Now, it’s all about justice. Revenge.

“Bloody right.” I’ll hit them where it hurts. Their pockets. Their reputation. Watch them try to explain missing funds and leaked secrets.

“Sorry, Lily,” I say under my breath. Not for what I’m doing—but that it took me this long to get smart. Should’ve started here. But I’m here now.

“Time to go to work.” No more hiding in closets. No more sprinting across fields. From now on, it’s me and my laptop. A modem. Lines of code as my weapons.

“Let’s see how they like being vulnerable.”

I slip away from the farm, the silhouette of the silo shrinking behind me. In town, there’s a café in a petrol station. 24-hour. Internet. Coffee. I’ll hole up there. Become a ghost in the machine.

“Got to be careful,” I tell myself. Cover my tracks. Bounce signals. Stay anonymous. It’s a new battlefield, but the mission’s the same.

“Justice for Lily,” I promise, my steps quickening. Through cyber-attacks, I’ll honour her memory. Make them remember her name.

“Never forget.” Never forgive.

I reach the outskirts of Meningie. The first hints of dawn tinge the sky pink. A new day. A fresh start. Time to bring them down—one byte at a time.

Gravel crunches underfoot. I’m moving away, fast. The farm’s a dark shape against the night sky. It’s done. Phase one. But the real game is just starting.

Mind’s racing. Full of codes and firewalls I gotta breach. Got to be slick. They won’t even see me coming. Not this time. Lily deserves that much. Deserves everything I didn’t give her when it mattered.

I can almost hear her laugh. That sound… it’s what’s pushing me now. Thinking of all the ways to hit them. Hit them hard. Cyber strikes. Data theft. Ruin their precious reputation.

Footsteps are steady. Determined. Each step is for Lily. Each breath is for the fight. My hands, once shaking from fear, now steady with purpose. This rage inside—it’s a constant flame. Won’t let it burn out until they pay. Until everyone knows what they did.

“Justice,” I spit the word into the night like it’s a curse. And maybe it is. For them.

The air’s cold. Smells like freedom. Like revenge. They thought they buried her story. They thought wrong. I’m the narrator now. And this story’s gonna have a twist they never saw coming.

“Got to plan.” Each word a vow. “Got to prepare.”

The town’s lights blink in the distance. Meningie sleeps. Quiet. Unaware. But not me. I’m awake. More awake than ever.

“Let’s do this,” I mutter, my voice barely above a whisper. No more playing by their rules. No more Logan the pushover. I’m Logan the avenger. Logan the storm.

A dog barks somewhere far off. A warning? Maybe. Or maybe just a herald. Announcing the change that’s coming. Their downfall.

“Watch out,” I promise the silent night. “I’m coming for you.”

And as the first light of dawn creeps over the horizon, I feel it. The shift. It’s not just another day. It’s the beginning of their end. Lily, this is for you.

I boot up. The screen flickers alive. Binary battlefield. Codes and algorithms, my new weapons. Friends? They won’t understand. They can’t. This is a solo mission.

“Focus,” I command the reflection in the darkened monitor. Muscle memory from RAAF days kicks in. Fingers fly across keys. Speed’s essential. Precision, critical.

The firewall looms. A digital fortress guarding their secrets. My entry point, a sliver in their Armor. I’m in. Adrenaline pumps. No turning back now.

“Gotcha,” I whisper as files spill like guts on the screen. Financials. Correspondence. Dirt. It’s all there. Lily’s voice echoes, a ghostly cheerleader. Drive harder, dig deeper.

A ping. A message pops. From Jake. “Beers tonight?”

“Can’t.” I type back, curt. Can’t risk distractions. Can’t risk slipping. Jake’s a mate but this… This is different.

“Everything okay?” he probes.

“Busy,” I shoot back. One word to end the conversation. Friendship on hold. Survival mode, activated.

Codes whirl, data dances. I’m orchestrating chaos from a keyboard. This is more than revenge; it’s justice. Lily’s justice.

“Sorry, mate,” I mutter, though Jake’s long gone. The sting of isolation hits, but the path’s chosen. There’s no room for doubt. Not here. Not in the wires and waves.

Hours bleed into dawn. Eyes burn. Back aches. But I’ve got them. Their dirty secrets laid bare. I pause, savouring the moment. Power surges through me, electric.

“Logan the avenger,” I say, testing the identity. The farm’s fate clenched in my digital fist. The rules of engagement have changed. The hunter becomes the haunted.

I shut down. The room’s silent save for my laboured breaths. This is bigger than me. Bigger than us. It’s about making things right. For her. For Lily.

“Tomorrow,” I vow to the empty room. The fight continues. Friendships may fray, moral compass might spin. But survive, I must. For justice. For Lily.

And with that, I step into the breaking day—a new breed of warrior in a world where friendship means survival, even if it’s survival of the fittest.