Hunted

The Cipher Key was theirs.

But now, so were the consequences.

Tricia barely had time to process their narrow escape before Nathan slammed the SUV into a sharp turn, skidding onto an empty highway. The city lights blurred behind them, sirens echoing in the distance.

"We need to go dark," Nathan growled, gripping the wheel. "They'll be tracking us."

Jared, still catching his breath, "They already are."

He wasn't wrong.

A black SUV appeared in the rearview mirror, headlights flaring like a predator's eyes. Then another.

Tricia's pulse spiked.

They were being hunted.

Nathan floored the gas pedal. The engine roared, the speedometer needle jumping as the SUV shot forward.

"They must've tagged the vehicle," Reed said, reloading his rifle. "They knew exactly where to find us."

Tricia clenched the Cipher Key in her fist. They wouldn't stop until they had it.

Bullets shattered the back windshield.

"DOWN!" Jared shouted, shoving Tricia below the dashboard.

Reed returned fire, shattering the windshield of the closest pursuer, but more vehicles joined the chase. Too many.

Nathan swerved onto an overpass, aiming for an industrial district ahead. "We need to lose them."

Jared's voice was cold. "Then we stop running and fight."

Nathan shot him a glare. "We're outnumbered."

"We're dead if we don't fight back."

Tricia's heart pounded. Jared was right. Running wasn't an option anymore.

She glanced at a looming construction site ahead. A maze of unfinished buildings, steel beams, and shadows.

"Take us in there," she said.

Nathan hesitated but obeyed, veering off the road into the half-built structure. The SUV crashed through a wire fence, tires screeching as it came to a sudden stop.

"Out. Now."

They bolted from the car, vanishing into the skeletal framework of concrete and steel.

But their pursuers weren't far behind.

The Ambush

Tricia's breath came fast as she pressed against a steel column, gun in hand. Shadows flickered, the hum of footsteps closing in.

Jared was next to her, his expression hard. "We don't let them take us alive."

She nodded. "Agreed."

Nathan's voice crackled in their earpieces. "Five hostiles. Heavy gear. Moving in."

Tricia peeked around the corner. Men in tactical armor swept through the site, their movements sharp and precise.

These weren't just hired guns.

They were trained operatives.

A cold realization gripped her. Lorne sent them.

A sharp voice rang out. "We know you're here. Surrender the drive, and we might let you live."

Jared smirked. "Might?"

Tricia met his gaze. "They're stalling."

Which meant more were coming.

Time to act fast.

The First Shot

Before the enemies could react, Jared fired first, a single headshot, clean and brutal.

The man crumpled.

Chaos erupted.

Gunfire lit up the dark, ricocheting off metal beams as Tricia and her team fought back. They moved like ghosts, striking, retreating, vanishing.

Reed took out another, his sniper round echoing through the night.

Nathan flanked right, cutting off their escape.

But they weren't fast enough.

A grenade landed near Tricia's feet.

No time to run.

Jared tackled her just as the explosion detonated. Fire and debris erupted, slamming into her ribs.

Pain exploded through her side. Ears ringing. Vision blurring.

But there was no time to stop.

Jared hauled her up, his face grim. "We need to move."

Tricia gritted her teeth, forcing her body to obey.

They stumbled toward an unfinished stairwell, but then,

A gunshot.

Nathan staggered, a red bloom spreading across his side.

Tricia's breath caught. "Nathan!"

He gritted his teeth, pressing a hand to the wound. "Keep going."

But Jared wasn't listening. He turned, rage flashing in his eyes.

He fired, a brutal, merciless execution shot. The last enemy fell, but the damage was done.

Nathan sank to his knees, pale and shaking.

Reed caught him before he collapsed completely. Blood soaked his hands.

Tricia met Jared's gaze. They had won the fight.

But at what cost?

And how long before the next hunt began?

Blood Ties and Lies

Nathan's blood soaked through Reed's fingers.

The firefight had ended, but the echoes of gunfire still rang in her ears. They had survived the ambush, but just barely.

Reed pressed his hands against Nathan's wound, his expression unreadable. "We need to move, now."

Jared was already scanning their surroundings, his sniper rifle at the ready as he puts Tricia to her feet. "We won't be alone for long."

The Cipher Key was still in her possession, but it wasn't the only thing that mattered now. Nathan was bleeding out, and they had no safe place to run.

Then, a voice crackled in her earpiece.

"I have what you're looking for."

Tricia's body tensed. The voice was familiar.

Too familiar.

Her grip tightened around her gun. "Who is this?"

A pause. Then,

"Come to me, Tricia. You want answers? I'm the only one who has them."

And then the line went dead.

Jared glanced at her. "Who was that?"

Tricia hesitated, her heart hammering. Because she knew exactly who it was.

And if he was reaching out now, it could only mean one thing,

The truth was about to cost her more than she was willing to pay.

The Meeting

Six hours later.

Nathan was stable, but barely. They had found a temporary safehouse, a rundown motel off the grid. But the real battle was still ahead.

Tricia sat alone in the dimly lit room, gripping her gun as she replayed the voice in her head.

She hadn't heard it in years.

Not since the first time she tried to escape S.O.L.A.C.E.

Jared leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. "You don't have to do this alone."

Tricia shook her head. "I do."

Because this was personal.

She left before anyone could argue.

The meeting point was a deserted train station, long abandoned and reclaimed by time. The air was thick with dust and the distant rumble of an approaching storm.

Tricia stepped onto the platform, every muscle in her body coiled.

And then,

He stepped out of the shadows.

Dressed in a dark coat, his face was eerily familiar, yet tainted with time.

Tricia's breath hitched.

Director Alden Kane.

The man who had orchestrated everything.

The one who had given the orders.

The one who had called her his greatest experiment.

Her fingers twitched toward her gun. "Give me one reason I shouldn't put a bullet in your skull."

Alden's lips curled in a smirk. "Because, Tricia, I'm the only one who can tell you who you really are."

Silence stretched between them.

She wanted to shoot him. God, she wanted to.

But instead, she swallowed the rage and asked the only question that mattered.

"Who am I?"

Alden stepped closer with a smirk.

He reached into his coat, pulling out a thin, leather-bound file.

He tossed it at her feet.

Tricia hesitated before picking it up. The cover was stamped with two things:

A S.O.L.A.C.E. insignia.

And a name.

Hers.

But underneath it, there was something else.

Another name.

A name she didn't recognize.

Or maybe, a name she wasn't allowed to remember.

Her blood ran cold. "What the hell is this?"

Alden smiled. "Your real identity.”