--:Keifer's POV:--
The air in my living room was thick, charged with the kind of silence that usually precedes a total disaster. I stood in the center of the room, my knuckles white as I gripped the back of a wooden chair, the guys of Section E were in various states of shock.
Edrix's fingers were trembling as they hovered over his laptop keys. The blue light of the screen made his pale face look almost ghostly. He looked like he wanted to close the lid and pretend he hadn't seen the data, but the truth was already burned onto the wall behind him.
"Edrix," I said, my voice sounding like grinding stones. "Show me!! "
He hit a key, and the call history projected onto the white wall. It was a single number, unrecognized at first, but then a name popped up next to it—
KAIZAR.
The silence that followed was worse than any shout. It wasn't just a name; it was a total breakdown of everything we believed in. To see Yuri's ID linked to Kaizar's private line was like watching a brother hold the knife that was already in your back.
"That's impossible" Ci-N whispered, his voice cracking. He was sitting on the floor, his head in his hands. "Yuri wouldn't... he's the one of those who kept us safe. Why would he talk to that monster?"
"The logs don't lie, Ci-N" Edrix said, his voice hollow." Thefirst call was two weeks ago. Then another one tonight... right before he disappeared. A five-minute conversation. He wasn't kidnapped, guys. He called them. He initiated the contact."
Josh kicked the coffee table, sending a stack of notebooks flying. "Five minutes? That's not a plea for help. That's a meeting. He's been playing us this whole time? While we were out there risking our necks to find him?"
I didn't join in the shouting. I just stared at that name. If Yuri was talking to Kaizar, then Section E's walls were no longer standing. Everything we had—every secret, every weakness—was now public knowledge to the man who wanted us destroyed.
" We don't tell Jay-jay yet" I said, my voice cold and final.
"What? Keifer, she needs to know!" Ci-N protested.
"No!" I snapped. "If we tell her Yuri turned his back on us, she'll do something stupid. She'll walk right into Kaizar's hands trying to 'fix' it."
I looked at Edrix. "Find out where those calls were pinged from. I want a location. Now."
--:Jay-jay's POV:--
The house felt too big tonight. Every creak of the floorboards sounded like a footstep. I sat on the edge of my bed, my legs swinging nervously. Aries was downstairs in the kitchen, probably raiding the fridge for a midnight snack.
I reached into my jacket pocket to find my phone, but my fingers brushed against something hard and metallic.
I pulled it out. It was a silver pen drive.
My heart skipped a beat. I didn't own a silver pen drive. Then the memory hit me — the way Yuri had bumped into me earlier. He hadn't just been clumsy; he had been deliberate. He had slipped this to me in total silence.
"Yuri... what is this?" I whispered.
I moved toward my desk, my heart hammering. I wanted to see what was on it. Was it a message? Was it the reason he disappeared? But before my hand could even touch my laptop, my phone lit up with a blinding brightness.
An unknown number.
💌From, [Unknown]:
Do you have it?
I froze. I didn't reply. I couldn't move.
💌From, [Unknown]:
I know you have the pen drive. Yuri gave it to you, didn't he?
My breath hitched. How could anyone know? Was I being watched? I looked at my window, but the curtains were drawn. The text felt like a hand around my throat. It wasn't Yuri's style of talking. It was sharp.
💌From, [Unknown]:
If you have that pen drive, RUN. Get out of your house right now. Kaizar is coming for you. Don't wait for anyone. If they see anyone, they'll kill them. Just RUN.
I scrambled back from the desk, my chair screeching against the floor. I looked at the door. I wanted to scream for Aries, but the message stopped me. If they see him, they'll kill them.
I couldn't let Aries die because of me.
But before that I have to check if this really real?? Should I trust this unknown person??Or what if it's a trap?? OMG what do I do this is confusing as hell, and I can't even tell anyone, What if it's really true??
I shoved the pen drive deep into my sock, grabbed my phone, and moved to the window. As I pulled the curtain back, I saw it—a black sedan slowing down at the end of the driveway. The headlights were off.
Or maybe it's really true, Because I didn't know that car...
I didn't think. I climbed out onto the porch roof, my hands slipping on the wet shingles. I slid down the trellis, the wood scratching my palms, and hit the mud of the backyard. I didn't look back at the house. I ran straight for the tree line, my lungs burning, due to all the scratches
--:Aries's POV:--
I was standing at the kitchen counter, pouring a glass of juice, when I heard it. A faint thud from upstairs.
"Jay-jay?" I called out, my voice echoing in the quiet house. "You okay up there?"
No answer.
I frowned, setting the glass down. Something felt wrong. The air in the house had changed; it felt heavy, like the pressure before a lightning strike. I walked to the bottom of the stairs.
"Jay-jay, I'm coming up."
I reached her room and pushed the door open. My heart dropped. The room was empty. The window was wide open, the curtains flapping wildly in the wind, spraying rain across her bed.
"Jay-jay!" I yelled, running to the window. I looked out into the darkness and saw a flash of a white shirt disappearing into the woods.
Before I could go after her, a heavy thump came from downstairs. The front door hadn't been knocked on—it had been breached.
I went down, my muscles tensing. Three men in dark tactical gear were already at the top of the stairs. They weren't high school punks. These were professionals. They held silenced pistols, their movements synchronized and cold.
"Where is the girl?" the one in the lead growled.
"Somewhere you'll never find her," I hissed, lunging forward.
I managed to land a solid punch on the first man's jaw, feeling the bone give way, but the second one swung the butt of his rifle into my temple. The world exploded into white light. I hit the floor, my vision blurring into blackness. The last thing I heard was the crackle of a radio.
"Target is in the woods."
--:Keifer's POV:--
"I got a hit!" Edrix shouted, his voice cracking with panic.
I leaned over his shoulder. "What is it?"
"The signal jammer just went live on Jay-jay's block. I lost her phone's GPS, the neighbor's security feeds—everything is dead. It's a total blackout, Keifer. They're moving in."
"MOVE!" I roared, grabbing my keys.
I drove like a demon. I didn't care about the rain, the slick roads, or the red lights. All I could see was Jay-jay's face. When I pulled into her driveway, my heart shattered. The front door was hanging off one hinge, the wood splintered.
I charged inside, gun drawn, my blood screaming. I found Aries on the floor in the hallway, struggling to sit up, blood streaming down the side of his face.
"Aries! Where is she?" I yelled.
"The woods..." he gasped, his eyes unfocused. "She ran... Kaizar's men... they're right behind her, Keifer... I couldn't stop them..."
I looked at the woods behind the house—a dark, tangled nightmare under the pouring rain. I felt a coldness settle over me that I knew would never go away.
"Edrix, stay with Aries! Call the others!" I turned to Josh and Ci-N, who had just pulled up behind me. "We're going in. And we aren't coming out without her."
--:Jay-jay's POV:--
I was stumbling, the branches tearing at my skin. I couldn't see anything. Every time I turned my flashlight on, I heard footsteps getting closer, so I had to turn it off and run in the pitch black.
I tripped over a fallen log and crashed into the mud, my shoulder hitting a rock with a sickening thud. A scream caught in my throat. I tried to crawl, my breath coming in ragged, terrified gasps.
"Please... no..." I whimpered.
A heavy boot stepped into the mud inches from my face. I froze. I slowly looked up.
A man in a long, expensive black coat stood over me. The rain didn't seem to bother him. He looked down at me like I was a broken toy. It was Kaizar.
He didn't say anything at first. He just reached down, grabbed me by the hair, and hauled me up to my feet. I cried out in pain, my hands clutching at his wrist.
"You've caused a lot of trouble for such a small thing, Jay-jay," Kaizar said, his voice smooth and terrifyingly calm.
"Let me go!" I choked out, trying to kick him.
He didn't even flinch. He backhanded me across the face, the force of it sending me spinning back into the mud.
"I know Yuri gave it to you," Kaizar said, stepping closer. "He's a very loyal soldier. He told me exactly who he gave the drive to. He even told me where you'd run."
As he spoke, my mind flashed back to the files I just saw on the drive—the detailed photos of Alvin's house and the secret logs. It felt like a confirmation. Yuri had all the information, and now Kaizar had me.
"You're lying" I whispered, but my voice lacked conviction.
"Am I?" Kaizar smiled.
Kaizar looked behind me into the dark woods where the sounds of shouting were getting closer. He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Give me the drive, Jay-jay," Kaizar commanded."Before Keifer gets here. Because if he sees you like this, he'll do something stupid... and I'll have to kill him in front of you. Is that what you want?"
I was trapped between a monster and a traitor, and in the suffocating darkness, the only name my heart could scream was... Keifer.