The smoke still clung to Ethan's clothes as he leaned against the safe house wall, his breaths heavy and ragged. The adrenaline from the escape had finally ebbed, leaving him with a gnawing emptiness. Ava paced the room, her movements restless, but her eyes were sharp as ever.
"You froze," she said, breaking the silence. Her voice was calm, but the accusation was unmistakable.
Ethan's jaw tightened. "I didn't freeze."
"You let him go." Ava's gaze bore into him. "Jason. You had a clear shot, and you hesitated."
Ethan shot her a glare. "Don't act like you understand what's going on in my head."
"Maybe I don't," she admitted, her tone softening. "But I do know that whatever personal vendetta you have, it's costing us time and lives. He's not worth losing the mission over."
Ethan turned away, gripping the edge of the table so hard his knuckles whitened. "You don't get it, Ava. Jason isn't just another Syndicate pawn. He knows everything about me—my tactics, my weaknesses. If we don't stop him, he'll use it all to bury us."
Ava watched him carefully, her expression unreadable. Then, without another word, she crossed the room and began unloading her gear.
"We've got about six hours before the Syndicate comes looking for us," she said, her back to him. "You can brood all you want, but I suggest you focus on figuring out our next move."
---
Ethan didn't sleep. The weight of the night's events pressed heavily on him, and Jason's mocking grin was burned into his mind. As the first light of dawn seeped through the boarded-up windows, he sat at the table, poring over the remnants of the lab's stolen data.
Project Nexus. The name alone sent a chill down his spine. What little information they'd managed to retrieve painted a grim picture: enhanced operatives, weaponized technology, and something referred to as The Override Protocol.
"Find anything useful?" Ava asked, her voice pulling him from his thoughts.
"Plenty," Ethan said, gesturing to the files. "But none of it tells me what Project Nexus is really about. Whatever it is, it's bigger than we thought."
Ava studied the data for a moment before tapping a specific line of text. "'Override Protocol.' If I had to guess, this is the heart of it. And Jason... he knows what it does."
Ethan nodded slowly. "He's the key. We need to track him down."
Ava crossed her arms, a small frown tugging at her lips. "He'll be expecting that. The Syndicate will have him surrounded by their best."
"Good," Ethan said coldly. "Let them try to stop me."
---
The trail led them to an abandoned dockyard on the city's outskirts, a known Syndicate stronghold. The place was crawling with guards, drones patrolling the perimeter in synchronized sweeps. Ethan crouched behind a stack of rusted crates, his eyes scanning the area.
"Too many guards to take head-on," he muttered.
Ava smirked faintly. "That's why we're not going through the front door." She pointed to a sewer grate partially obscured by debris. "That leads straight into the heart of the compound. Quiet and messy—just the way we like it."
Ethan shot her a sidelong glance. "You've been here before."
"Once or twice," she admitted. "The Syndicate doesn't change its patterns much. It's both their strength and their weakness."
They moved quickly, slipping into the tunnels and navigating the labyrinthine passages beneath the dockyard. The air was damp and rank, the sound of dripping water echoing around them.
As they approached an access ladder, Ava suddenly froze, holding up a hand. Ethan followed her gaze to a small, blinking device attached to the wall.
"Tripwire," Ava whispered. "Sophisticated one, too. Looks like Jason's handiwork."
Ethan's stomach churned. Jason's fingerprints were all over this operation. He knelt beside the device, his hands moving with practiced precision to disarm it.
"Careful," Ava murmured, her voice unusually soft.
Ethan glanced up at her, surprised by the concern in her tone. "Since when do you care if I get blown up?"
Ava's expression hardened. "I don't. But you're no good to me dead."
Ethan shook his head, a faint smirk tugging at his lips as he finished disarming the trap. "There. Safe as it's going to get."
They climbed the ladder, emerging into a dimly lit storage room filled with crates and equipment. Ava checked the perimeter while Ethan scanned the area for clues.
His eyes fell on a map pinned to the wall, marked with red circles and notes written in Jason's handwriting.
"Look at this," Ethan said, beckoning Ava over.
She frowned as she studied the map. "Looks like a distribution network. The Syndicate's planning to move something big."
Ethan's gaze darkened. "Project Nexus. Whatever it is, they're getting ready to deploy it."
Before Ava could respond, a voice crackled through the intercom.
"Welcome, Ethan," Jason's voice drawled, thick with mockery. "I knew you'd come. Always so predictable."
Ethan's blood ran cold as the storage room's lights flickered and the door slammed shut behind them.
"You didn't think I'd make it easy for you, did you?" Jason continued, his laughter echoing through the room.
Ava's eyes darted around, searching for an exit. "We're trapped."
Ethan's jaw clenched. "Not for long."
Jason's voice dropped to a sinister whisper. "Let's see if you can survive my game, Ethan. After all, it's not just your life at stake anymore."
The lights cut out completely, plunging the room into darkness. Ethan's heart pounded as the sound of mechanical whirring filled the air.
"We're not alone," Ava muttered, her voice low and tense.
Ethan raised his weapon, his resolve hardening. "Then we fight our way out. Together."
In the shadows, the first of Jason's traps began to move.