The Dead Don’t Forget
1007 Words
Chapter 2: The Dead Don’t Forget
Maxwell’s POV
Once more, my name was in the wind.
It was just a question of time.
Early that morning, I received it even though I didn't require any additional evidence. One more file that is encrypted. Another historical figure erased the map. Ten days to the fourth. The message was very clear: Nova's old squad was being hunted. My group.
I silently looked at the television.
I remained silent. I refrained from using profanity.
I simply sat there and looked at the final picture of my former surveillance specialist, Mia Jenson, lying face-down in a Rome alley. Chilly. Dead.
The person responsible wasn't merely deleting names.
They were personalising it.
I grabbed my burner phone and made a secure call.
When he responded, I replied, "Dylan, we have a problem."
In the meantime, I knew Lara was getting closer to someplace in the city.
That was how smart she was. Too smart.
She had been looking into a string of enigmatic kills. They are all professional, spotless, and fingerprint-free. Like me, they are all connected to high-level ex-operatives who have no official records.
She was unaware that I was Nova. Not quite yet.
She was near, though. I felt it. And the way she looked at me the previous evening? It was more than suspicion. It was unresolved business.
We.
Her voice was still audible to me.
"Hi, Nova."
Only two words. They strike more forcefully than a bullet, though.
I rode the elevator to my building's lowest floor. The majority believed it terminated in the basement.
They were mistaken.
I walked through my own cellar's wine rack, touched the biometric pad with my thumb, and went through a little tunnel that was softly lit with blue lights. The air felt colder as I descended further. It might have been the recollections. It might have been guilt.
Dylan Park waited with his arms folded at the far end of the tunnel. Ten times more paranoid and always one step ahead.
Without glancing at me, he said, "Nice of you to show up."
I informed him that "someone is killing off the old team." "Four down." Does the last one appear anywhere?
He looked at the screen. Last night, only one pinged a secure line. Moreno, Jace. He is in Jersey at a blacksite clinic. He's not feeling good.
"It's okay to be alive," I said.
Dylan paused. "Before you leave... The entire kill chain has the spectre's fingerprints.
I tightened my jaw. "Then he's real."
"Very genuine. Furthermore, Max is not a hired gun. He is one of us.
I blinked. "What?"
Dylan displayed a profile with a codename tagged UNKNOWN, redacted portions, and missing data. He was cleared. Access to the operations of Nova. Thus, he trained alongside us.
I took a deep breath. It was more than just risky. That was an entirely new kind of betrayal.
I entered the clinic using an old cover name and falsified documents. Clean, silent, and obviously off the record, it was. The sort of place where people are sent by the government to forget.
Jace wasn't feeling well. Burns, stitches, tubes, and a heart monitor that ticks away like a slow bomb. He still smiled, though, when he spotted me.
He rasped, "Max." "Damn, that lovely face is still there."
I came up with a chair. "I need a name."
He laughed. "I was going to die. Yet you must greet me.
"This goes beyond hello."
He gave a nod. "He is one of us, spectre. He was in Berlin. We had faith in him. Our missions were similar. Secrets.
Berlin. They had sealed that task. For that one, only five agents had been cleared. Had Spectre been one of them?
I swam my head.
"Jace, who is he?"
He closed his eyes. "His true name is unknown to me. He's close, though. He is constantly keeping an eye on all of us.
The monitor beeped more quickly. Next, flat.
"No. No, no! I got to my feet. "Jace, please stay with me!"
Physicians hurried in. He checked his intravenous line. She knitted her brow. "That scent..."
The bag was sniffed by another. Almonds. Bitter almonds.
My stomach dropped. I said, "Cyanide." "He had been poisoned."
A doctor looked at me. "We must notify security"
However, I had already left.
I tore off my jacket and slammed my penthouse elevator door. Since I had left that room, my heart had not slowed. I was unable to think clearly. Jace had left. Mia as well. One by one, the team was falling apart, and I wasn't sure whom to put my trust in.
I needed some distraction, so I turned on the TV.
Rather, I was confronted by the past.
That's me on the news.
The anchor declared, "Billionaire CEO linked to Prague arms deal." "Unidentified video seems to depict Maxwell Blackwood, also known as Nova, participating in a clandestine arms trade abroad."
It had been leaked.
The f*****g video was leaked.
My chest constricted. This was more than just an assault.
It was a takedown.
"The son of a"
BANG!
It flew open my front door. Splinters fell on the ground. The room was filled with shouts.
"FBI! "Hands up!"
I turned around. Four agents rushed in brandishing their firearms.
Additionally, during them...
Lara.
Her look met mine. Chilly. Fierce. Perplexed.
She declared, "Maxwell Blackwood, you are under arrest."
Slowly, I lifted my hands.
I said, "This isn't how it appears."
She approached me. "No? Because it seems to me that the man I used to adore is a liar. And a killer.
I have nothing to say about that.
So I said nothing.
Until she took a step toward me, her face just inches away.
I said, "Lara, you have no idea what you've started."
She hesitated.
Only long enough for me to catch the glimmer of uncertainty in her look.
She then gave the agents a nod.
"Grab him."
And just like that... The secret of Nova was over.
- Writer
