Clayton pulled every favor he had to get these three men into this single room in Washington DC. The secured room in the White House was perfect to talk about matters of top secret, that he would be divulging now.

The moment President Charlie Irving, the Secretary of Defense Daren Steele, and the CIA Director Tanner Hilson, entered the room. Clayton made them sit down and watch a video.

As the screen on the wall showed the horrors, the three members watched with silence at the video that Clayton Nord dug up from the abyss. The footage was never meant to be seen by anyone, they had tried everything to bury this footage. But Clayton was nothing but good at what he does and when he sets his goal he did anything to achieve it.

Clayton looked at the men seated on the table. They were one of the most important people in the United States of America and he would need their support to make Operation Phoenix a successful reality.

“What am I looking at here?” President Irving asked.

The quality of the footage was low, with flickering grey and dark pixels. The screen showed men getting butchered like dogs by the soldiers as they advanced on them in the outskirts of some city. The Soldiers showed no mercy as they put every single person down, some of those who were shot didn’t give up, rather they got up and advanced.

Tanks were firing with helicopters into the crowd with their machine guns. But the crowd came on. The video ended when aircrafts dropped bombs onto the city and obliterating everything in the City. Even some of their own soldiers, as they took cover.

“Its a genocide thats what it is,” the Secretary of Defense Daren Steele said. “The soldiers fired upon their own citizens and committed this massacre. Where did this take place?”

“A city in China,” Clayton said.

“How long has it been since this occurred?” President Irving said. “If we get ahead of this, we can try to pass the evidence of this genocide to the International Court of Justice before they try to erase this evidence.”

“This occurred two years ago,” Clayton said. “Right after the Covid pandemic outbreak happened. There’s more that you need to see.” Clayton showed them more images and videos and his audience watched it in silence. Close up images and videos of the First Outbreak of Compound-Z in the city in China. Chinese experiments on Zombies that they had captured and everything related to Compound-Z that they had hidden.

The CIA Director Tanner Hilson watched everything like a stone statue. Not responding to the horrors presented on the screen like the President or the Secretary of Defense. Too bad. Clayton had expected a burst of anger from Tanner at exposing the long kept top secret.

When Clayton finished presenting the evidence. “You have not introduced yourself properly,” President Irving said. “I need to know who you are and what’s your position in the Government, before we have a discussion of the things you have presented to us.”

“My name is Clayton Nord. I am a contractor hired by the Pentagon to solve some of their problems outside of the US, discreetly and efficiently.”

“General Nord’s son?” President Irving asked.

Clayton tugged at his suit’s cuffs. “Yes, Mr. President.”

“The Prodigal son I heard from him about at the fund-raising party?” President Irving said turning to Secretary Steele.

The Secretary Steele looked at Clayton and he nodded. “Yes Sir. The information has been classified as Top Secret and there are no records mentioning Clayton’s name. But he was the reason for the complete downfall of the terrorist organization SISI operating in the Middle East in 2020.

“As you know the terrorist organization SISI was on the rise at that time. They were popular and had support from all over the world and our agencies were having trouble trying to keep them in check. General Nord went rogue and created an unsanctioned operation, by sending in his personal project; a Operative of the SyD program. The program in itself was highly controversial and General Nord was denied approval two decades ago. Looks like he went ahead with it on his own, and put his son in the SyD program. He then released Clayton Nord from the training of the SyD program and was given the objective of taking down the terrorist organization SISI.

“In the process of taking down the whole organization, Clayton prevented six planned attacks on American Soil by warning us in time of the terrorist sleeper cells that had been embedded into the US. After seeing his performance and effectiveness when General Nord presented the whole operation to me and others within the Pentagon, we hired Clayton Nord as a contractor. There was to be no link or thread connecting the government, the Pentagon, or me with him or any actions he would perform in completing his objectives.

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“He was sent to Europe to help Ukraine a month before the war broke out when Clayton provided information of imminent invasion from Russia. He performed asymmetrical actions and operations to disrupt Russia in their own borders. In the middle of the Operation one day, we lost all contact with Clayton after the last message he had sent us on April 2022, two months after the invasion had started.

“Then one week before on 25th December 2022, he contacted me out of nowhere and asked me to arrange a meeting with you Sir, and Director Hilson, saying that he had information regarding a bioweapon that the Russians were trying to develop. I vetted him, then arranged the meeting we are having right now.”

President Irving looked at Clayton for a few minutes as he thought of the introduction Secretary Steele had given.

“You have a rugged face and many scars on your face that looks faded. Yet you look far too young,” President Irving said. “How old are you really?”

“Twenty-One Sir,” Clayton said.

President Irving was taken aback as was the CIA Director Tanner Hilson. “You must have been what Nineteen? And you were in charge of an operation to take down a major terrorist organization operating in foreign soil.” He glared at Secretary Steele.

“Like I said, it was an unsanctioned operation taken by General Nord,” Secretary Steele said. “He went ahead with the SyD Program despite disapproval from the Pentagon at that time.”

“I will turn Twenty-Two within the month’s end,” Clayton said, like that would make a difference. “General Nord’s parenting is … unique. There are no records of my existence, he had me raised different in secret and separate from my siblings. The training began when I was a child. I was exposed to the realities of the world sooner, and learned from the most experienced men and women in all matters the General deemed important. After spending some time on the field when I was seventeen and eighteen, he thought my training was finished. He showed me the files the Government had on SISI organization, a year to dismantle, and gave me some resources and funding from his own money to provide a head start.”

“Did you finish the task within the year?” Director Hilson spoke for the first time.

“No,” Clayton said. “Though the organization was taken down within the year, it took me an extra half-year to track and execute the last remnants of the organization, who had gone into hiding when they witnessed what happened to the rest.”

“What is the SyD Program?” President Irving asked.

“He is not supposed to exist, Mr. President,” Director Hilson said. “Clayton is what an operative of SyD would be if the program was approved. General Nord tried again and again with failure to get the program approved over the years from the first time in 2001.”

“Why did it get rejected?” the President said. “Hearing his achievement at such a young age, I think the SyD program is a success.”

“The training and upbringing of the children in the SyD Program is very cruel. If word were to ever get out that the government sanctioned and approved putting children in the program, the administration would face severe out-lash from both the domestic and international community. People would protest in the streets until every person who approved of such a program were arrested and put in jail.

“There seems to be major work done on his face to reduce the scars, to make it easier to blend in with the crowd on the field and they are not the only scars he has on his body. I bet that there are more under his clothes and most of the scars would have been created when he was under eighteen, before he was even put on the field.”

“I didn’t think that you would be the voice of reason Tanner. This seems like something the Agency would have done.” President Irving focused at Clayton’s face. “How many surgeries have you had done to your body Clayton to reduce the scars?”

“Thirty six over the years,” Clayton said without hesitation. “Eight on my face. Like Director Hilson said, the training I got … was a bit on the extreme side. And visible Scars on the face would hinder my ability to achieve my objectives.”

“If I could I would have General Nord arrested,” President Irving said.

“With all due respect sir,” Clayton said. “I would prefer if you do not. The attention that General Nord’s arrest might cause will bring attention to me. I prefer to remain non-existent, as it helps produce far perfect results in any operation that I might take part in. Though sometimes I do wonder what my life would be like if I was raised in a normal manner. But after the four years I spent on the field, I would sooner make sure that the rest of the youth do not experience the horrors that the world is capable of producing.”

“Still,” Secretary Steele said. “Lets not be hasty on scrapping the whole program. The results that Clayton has produced in the short years he has operated, is exceptional. The lives he has saved by taking down the organization. It’s a better option for a few children to—”

“I am gonna pretend you didn’t just say those words Daren,” President Irving said. “If you still want to pursue this matter, I will make sure that your career is shortened abruptly. I won’t have that black mark for the rest of my life and legacy. Lets get back to the reason we were here in the first place.”

Clayton nodded. “The reason I arranged this meeting was to show you the threat the Bioweapon Compound-Z is to the United States of America. The existence of Compound-Z is kept as a top secret by those that are aware of it, even from their own employers and governments.” Clayton glanced at Director Hilson to see his reaction. The man was like a stone. I uncovered all this information from the Chinese, Russians and our own Intelligence Agencies among many others that are aware of Compound-Z.”

“That is a serious accusation to make Mr. Nord,” President Irving said. “There is no reason that I would not be made aware of this, if the agencies under me knew of it. It would be helpful to make your case if you had any proof.”

“I would like to give Director Hilson a chance to come clean and tell the truth.” Clayton didn’t shy away from the glare of the CIA Director.