Wraiths.
The government still needs people in the shadows: undercover agents, informants, spies. People with identities that could be tailored for every mission, people no one would look for, people who had skills that would let them ghost through the world. And if they were caught, the government needed plausible deniability.
Wraiths are a rumor, an unconfirmed conspiracy. They are the unseen heroes, the ghosts in the machine. They are people who died just long enough for their biometric tattoos to deactivate. Then they are used for black ops, for undercover work, etc.
You would think most wraiths are highly trained soldiers, former military and intelligence operatives.
The truth is a little more frightening.
Wraiths are criminals.
Rather than serving our sentences in prison, wraiths are given a handler, a few months’ training, and then we are tossed out into the field. If we serve our given term, our slate is wiped clean and we are sent back into the world with a new identity for a second chance.
And if we die on a mission—no one misses us.
IDENTITY SECURITY DIVISION
WRAITH CASE STUDY: AUGUSTA PINE
PHONE CALL TRANSCRIPT
SIXTEEN HOURS BEFORE THE PORTLAND HOSTAGE CRISIS
CALL INITIATED 8:04 P.M. PST
AUGUSTA PINE
Okay, just tell me. What’s the job?
PREFECT
What job?
AUGUSTA PINE
The job you sent me to Portland for.
PREFECT
The hijacking wasn’t enough for you?
AUGUSTA PINE
That was on the way here. Now, what’s in Portland?
PREFECT
Beer, counterculture, and gentrification, I believe.
AUGUSTA PINE
So you’re saying there’s no job?
PREFECT
You were supposed to stay in San Francisco with me, but after the last… incident, I deemed it best to keep you out of sight of the local constabularies.
AUGUSTA PINE
