Chapter 26 Beckett
Beckett
The first warning was silence.
No cicadas. No rustle of wind through the desert brush. Just a hush so complete it crawled down my spine like cold steel.
I was on my feet before Elara spoke.
“You heard it too,” she whispered, voice barely a breath.
“Stay down,” I ordered, already sliding the Glock free, finger light on the trigger.
The safehouse lights flickered—once, twice—before going out completely. Darkness engulfed the room. I moved to the window, cautious, pressing my back to the wall. Headlights pierced through the blinds' slats—three vehicles, engines softly rumbling.
Hydra.
I turned, catching Elara’s outline in the shadows. She hadn’t moved to hide. She was standing, spine straight, chin up. The faint gleam of a knife in her hand.
“Dammit, Elara,” I hissed. “I said stay down.”
“And wait for them to put a bullet in me? Not a chance.”
The first shot cracked the glass. The window exploded inward, shards scattering across the floor. I shoved her down, covering her body with mine as the walls shook under another barrage.
“Back room, now!” I growled, hauling her toward the hall. We moved low, fast, the safehouse groaning around us as Hydra’s men closed in.
She pulled free halfway down the corridor, spinning to cover my flank. Two shadows surged through the busted door. Her knife flashed once, twice—clean, precise. Both dropped.
For a heartbeat, I just stared. She wasn’t panicked. She wasn’t breaking. She was lethal, controlled, eyes blazing with something Hydra hadn’t taught her—choice.
“Cole!” she barked, snapping me back.
I raised my Glock and put down the third man coming through the door. Then I grabbed her wrist, yanking her toward the back exit.
Outside, the desert night roared with headlights and shouts. Too many of them. Hydra hadn’t come to test us this time. They’d come to take her.
“On me,” I said, voice like iron.
She fell in beside me without hesitation. As we ran into the fire together, I knew two things with absolute certainty:
I’d never let Hydra get to her again—and I was already too far gone to turn back.