Chapter Seven: under fire
1635 Words
Sky’s body jolted upright.
Something cracked—a sharp pop—followed by the piercing whine of shattering glass.
Before she could make sense of anything, Maddox was already moving. In one swift motion, he shoved her down to the ground. Her cheek smacked the cold hardwood floor as another shot rang out, this time slicing through the air just inches above her head.
She blinked at the jagged hole now carved into the wooden doorframe, heartbeat slamming so hard in her chest she swore it echoed off the walls.
“What the hell?” she gasped.
“Stay down,” Maddox barked, eyes already scanning the room like a trained predator.
Jax, without so much as a flinch, yanked the curtains closed and crouched low near the window, gun drawn. “They’ve found us.”
“Which they?” Sky asked, panicked.
“The kind that don’t knock before they kill you,” Jax replied flatly.
It should’ve terrified her—scratch that, it did terrify her—but even now, Sky noticed the sharp contrast between them. Maddox was all controlled rage, muscles tensed and ready to strike. Jax, on the other hand, looked like someone annoyed that someone interrupted his afternoon coffee. Professional apathy. Dangerous calm.
Maddox helped her crawl toward the kitchen as more shots peppered the front of the apartment.
Sky nearly tripped over a stool. “You guys have guns, right?!”
“No,” Jax deadpanned. “We make aggressive eye contact until the bullets get uncomfortable and leave.”
Maddox didn’t laugh. He never did. “Stay low. This was a trap. We have to move.”
Sky followed his orders, hands trembling, as he reached under a floorboard and pulled out two small handguns.
Of course there was a secret stash. Because who didn’t keep firearms under the kitchen floor?
Maddox tossed one to Jax and stuffed the other into his waistband.
“What about me?” Sky asked, backing toward the fridge for cover.
“You’re not shooting anyone,” Maddox snapped.
“Excuse me, but I just got shot at. Pretty sure I’ve earned a bullet or two.”
Jax passed her a narrow blade instead, sliding it across the tile. “Here. Stab someone if they try to monologue.”
“You two are seriously deranged,” Sky muttered, but grabbed the knife anyway.
Then everything went quiet.
Sky strained to hear, her heartbeat filling the silence, her grip sweaty around the knife handle.
“They’re not coming in,” Maddox murmured, moving toward the back of the apartment.
Jax was already ahead of him, disappearing into the hallway. Maddox turned to Sky. “When I say run, you move. No looking back. Got it?”
Sky nodded, heart still racing. “Got it.”
Maddox opened the rear exit, a creaky door that led into a stairwell.
That’s when the entire back wall exploded.
Debris flew. Dust filled the air. Sky was thrown backward by the blast, ears ringing, lungs choking on smoke.
Through the haze, she saw Maddox shove Jax out of the way, grab her arm, and pull her upright.
“Change of plan,” he said through gritted teeth. “We’re taking the window.”
“What window?”
“The one we’re jumping out of.”
Sky’s mouth dropped open. “You are not serious.”
“I’m always serious.”
“I know! That’s the problem!”
The shots started again—closer this time. Someone was inside.
Sky ran, because what choice did she have? Maddox yanked open a bedroom door, punched through the glass with the butt of his gun, and motioned to the fire escape.
“This is insane!” she yelled.
“Better than dead.”
She climbed through the window, cutting her arm on a stray piece of glass. Maddox followed, pausing only to throw a grenade-looking device behind them before slamming the window shut.
Moments later, another boom. The walls shook. The building groaned. Somewhere inside, a fire alarm screamed.
They clambered down the fire escape, three floors of panic, sirens now echoing in the distance.
By the time they hit the alley, Sky’s lungs were on fire.
Jax materialized from another side exit. “They had snipers. Two inside. One at the front.”
“How did they find us so fast?” Sky asked.
Maddox didn’t answer. He only stared at her. Like really stared.
“What?” she asked, uncomfortable.
“Did you leave the room with your phone?”
“No. Why—oh.”
Her heart sank.
“The pizza,” Maddox said quietly. “You opened the door for the pizza.”
“It was pineapple!” she cried. “You people hadn’t fed me in two days!”
“They must’ve tagged it. Tracked it.”
“That’s ridiculous! What kind of monster uses pizza for surveillance?!”
Jax raised a brow. “You’ve clearly never worked for the government.”
⸻
They didn’t go back to the safehouse. Maddox took her to a run-down hotel, the kind with flickering hallway lights and vending machines that hadn’t been restocked since the early 2000s.
Sky sat on the edge of the stained mattress, still clutching the knife like a security blanket.
“You should get some sleep,” Maddox said from across the room.
“Funny. Thought I’d wait until I stopped smelling the building we just exploded out of.”
Maddox said nothing.
“I don’t get it,” she continued, voice softer now. “Why not just leave me? Why bring me here?”
Maddox leaned against the wall. “You saved me. I owe you.”
“That’s it? A debt?”
“No.” He looked away. “It’s not that simple.”
She didn’t push. Her body was aching. Her brain was fried. And she was too tired to translate Maddox’s cryptic one-liners into emotion.
⸻
By morning, the air was heavy with tension.
Jax had gone silent again, fiddling with some device that looked like a mix between a flash drive and a taser.
Sky peeked at Maddox, who was scrolling through files on a burner laptop, his jaw clenched tight.
“So,” she said, trying to sound casual, “do I get to know who’s trying to kill us now?”
“They think you’re my handler,” he muttered.
“You keep saying that like it makes sense.”
“They think you’re the only one who can make me talk.”
“About what?”
Maddox paused. “Project Echo.”
Sky blinked. “That sounds fake.”
“It’s not.”
“You say that about a lot of things.”
“I’ve seen the files,” Jax added. “Whatever Echo is, it wasn’t shut down like they said. Someone’s reviving it.”
Sky crossed her arms. “So this is a government thing? Like CIA? FBI?”
“Worse,” Jax said.
“Worse than the government?”
Maddox didn’t look up. “Private contractors. No laws. No oversight. Just money.”
“Oh good. So we’re being hunted by murdery billionaires. Neat.”
⸻
Later that night, as Sky was brushing her teeth with the hotel’s complimentary “tooth scrubber” (which was definitely not a toothbrush), she heard Maddox’s voice through the wall.
It was low. Urgent.
She crept closer.
“—no, she doesn’t know anything,” he was saying.
A pause.
“I told you, I’m handling it. If you bring her in, it’ll trigger Echo—”
Sky stepped away, heart thudding.
So he was lying to her. He was hiding something.
The knife under her pillow suddenly didn’t feel like such an overreaction.
⸻
SUBPLOT: UNWELCOME GUEST
An hour later, someone knocked on the door.
Three knocks. A pause. Two knocks.
Sky tensed.
Jax opened the door, only to freeze.
A tall woman in a navy coat stepped inside, heels clicking like gunshots. Her dark eyes scanned the room, cool and calculating.
Sky immediately disliked her.
“Did you miss me?” the woman said to Maddox, smirking.
Maddox stood slowly. “Why are you here, Nova?”
Sky’s eyes widened. Nova?
“Oh, don’t be like that,” she purred. “You didn’t answer my messages. Thought I’d drop by.”
Nova turned to Sky. “So you’re the girl they’re hunting.”
Sky stood, arms crossed. “And you are?”
“His ex,” Nova said cheerfully. “And unfortunately for you, also the one assigned to terminate you.”
Sky blinked. “What?”
Jax stepped forward. “She’s bluffing.”
Nova pulled out a sleek black file. Dropped it on the table.
“Not bluffing. New orders. Straight from the top.”
Sky looked at Maddox.
Maddox didn’t blink.
The silence was so thick it could smother oxygen.
Nova leaned against the wall. “But hey—I’m open to negotiation. Maybe you want to explain to me why Maddox here has been dragging you around like a wounded puppy instead of completing his mission?”
Sky clenched her fists.
Maddox stared at the folder. Then at Sky.
And then back at Nova.
“Get out,” he said quietly.
“Oh, Maddox,” Nova laughed. “You really think you’re still in control?”
Sky stepped closer to Maddox. “What is she talking about?”
Maddox finally looked at her—and for the first time, she saw it.
Fear.
But not for himself.
For her.
Nova smirked. “He hasn’t told you the truth, has he? About why they’re really after you. About Echo.”
Sky turned slowly to Maddox.
And with a voice low and calm, she asked:
“What the hell is she talking about?”
- Writer
