THE FIRST ATTACK
1488 Words
Chapter 2: First Attack
The safehouse smelled like rust and old cigarettes.
It was above a laundry shop in Quezon City. One room. Two mattresses on the floor. One window facing an alley.
Lucas checked the locks. Again.
Maya checked the guns. Again.
Ava checked her laptop. Again.
No one was sleeping.
"You have 30 seconds to explain," Ava said without looking up from her screen. Her fingers were flying. "Why me. Why my dad. Why you killed him."
Lucas was by the window, parting the curtain with two fingers. "Not here."
"Then where? Because they're coming, aren't they?" She slammed the laptop shut. "I saw the traceroute. 3 different IPs. One NBI. One private server. One I don't recognize."
Smart girl.
Lucas dropped the curtain. "Maya. How long?"
"20 minutes until they're in this grid," Maya said, loading a magazine. "Maybe less if they have air support."
Ava laughed. A sharp, humorless sound. "Air support? For me? I'm a programmer."
"You’re not just a programmer," Lucas said. He turned to face her. "Your father built Nightfall. It’s a surveillance and strike protocol. It can track anyone. Kill anyone. From a satellite."
"And?"
"And he put the kill-switch in you. In your DNA, in your memories. A 32-digit code only you can access." Lucas's jaw tightened. "They want to pull it out of your head. By force if they have to."
Ava went pale. "That's not possible."
"It is," Maya said softly. "I’ve seen them do it."
The lights flickered. Then died.
Silence.
Then: three knocks on the door downstairs. Pause. Two knocks.
"They're here," Lucas whispered. "Shoes off. Lights out."
Maya killed the emergency lamp. Darkness swallowed them.
Lucas moved to Ava. Grabbed her wrist. "Up. Now. Fire escape."
"I'm not going anywhere with you until you—"
A crash. The downstairs door splintered.
"Move!"
They ran.
The fire escape was rusted. It screamed when Lucas kicked it down. Rain had made the metal slick.
Behind them, boots on stairs. Shouts. "Clear the room! Top floor!"
Lucas pushed Ava over the railing first. She landed hard on the metal platform.
"Go down," he ordered.
"I'm not a child," she snapped, but she went.
Halfway down, the window above them exploded.
Glass and wood.
A man leaned out. Gun raised.
Lucas didn't think. He pulled Ava against him and rolled.
The bullet hit the railing where her head was a second ago. Sparks.
Another shot. Closer.
"Keep moving!" Lucas shoved her down the last 10 feet. She hit the alley ground with a grunt.
Maya was already there, firing up. Two shots. The man at the window dropped.
"Van," Maya said. "Two blocks. Now."
They ran.
The alley was a maze. Trash bins. Cats. Wet cardboard.
Behind them, more shouts. Radios.
Ava was fast. Faster than Lucas expected. She wasn't slowing him down.
Until the SUV turned into the mouth of the alley. Headlights.
"Down!" Lucas tackled Ava. The SUV's window rolled down and bullets chewed the wall above them.
Maya was on the other side of a dumpster, returning fire. "Lucas! Left!"
He grabbed Ava and dragged her left, through a gap between buildings so narrow they had to turn sideways.
His shoulder scraped brick. Ava's breath was ragged in his ear.
They burst out into a side street. Empty.
The van was there. Engine running.
"Get in," Maya said from the driver's seat.
Lucas shoved Ava into the back. He slid in after her, pulling the door shut as Maya floored it.
Tires screamed.
In the back, Ava was shaking. Not crying. Shaking.
"Are you hit?" Lucas asked, checking her arms, her back. Hands moving fast. Clinical.
"No," she breathed. "No. I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Yes. Stop touching me." But she didn't pull away.
Maya checked the rearview. "We lost them. For now."
"For now," Lucas echoed. He looked at Ava. Really looked. Her knuckles were white on her laptop bag. "You did good."
"I did good?" She stared at him. "People were shooting at me, Ghost."
"I know."
Silence. Only the rain and the engine.
Ava hugged her knees. "Tell me about him. My father."
Lucas stared out the window. Manila blurred past. "What do you want to know?"
"The truth. Not the car accident lie."
Lucas was quiet for a long time. "He wasn't a good man, Ava. He built Nightfall to control people. To erase people. The agency used him. Then they got scared of him."
"So you killed him."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he was going to kill thousands to prove a point." Lucas finally met her eyes. "And because someone had to."
Ava nodded once. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay. I believe you." She wiped her face. "Now what? Where do we go?"
"Another safehouse," Maya said. "Smaller. No electronics."
"No," Ava said suddenly. "No more running."
Lucas and Maya both looked at her.
"I have the code," Ava said. "Part of it. In my head. My dad used to make me memorize numbers when I was a kid. I thought it was a game." She opened her laptop. The screen cast blue light on her face. "If they want it, I can give them a fake one. Trap them."
"That’s dangerous," Lucas said.
"Everything is dangerous," Ava shot back. "You said it yourself. They won't stop. So we stop them."
Maya glanced at Lucas.
Lucas sighed. "What do you need?"
"12 hours. And no one shooting at me for 12 hours."
"I can give you 6," Lucas said. "Maybe."
The van turned down a dark street. This safehouse was a condo. 14th floor.
They took the stairs. No elevator.
Inside, Lucas immediately went to the windows. Taped them. Checked sightlines.
Maya set up on the balcony with a rifle.
Ava sat on the floor, laptop open, earbuds in.
For 4 hours, nothing happened. Just the sound of typing.
Then Ava cursed.
"What?" Lucas was beside her in one step.
"They found me," she said. "Through the laptop. Even with the VPN."
"Close it."
"I can't. If I close it now, they'll know I saw them. I need to feed them something." Her fingers moved. "A loop. A fake location."
She was good. Scarily good.
A ping on her screen. A message.
`Hello Ava. This is General Castillo. Let's talk. Alone.`
Ava looked at Lucas.
"Don't," he said immediately.
"I have to." She typed back: `Where?`
`Rizal Park. 3AM. The fountain. Come alone or we start visiting hospitals.`
Lucas grabbed the laptop. Snapped it shut. "No."
"They'll hurt people, Lucas."
"I'll handle it."
"How? By killing more people?" Ava stood up. She was furious and scared and 22. "You can't shoot your way out of this. This is code. This is me."
Maya lowered her rifle. "She's right, Ghost. We can't keep running."
Lucas paced. 3 steps. Turn. 3 steps back.
Protocol says: Protect the asset.
Protocol says: Isolate the asset.
Protocol says: Do not walk into traps.
"Fine," he said finally. "We go. But not alone. And not the way they think."
Ava nodded.
2:45 AM. Rizal Park.
The fountain was dry. The park was empty except for shadows and security cameras.
Lucas and Maya were on two different rooftops. 300 meters apart.
Ava walked to the fountain alone. Laptop bag on her shoulder.
Her phone buzzed.
`You're 5 minutes early. Good.`
Footsteps behind her.
She turned.
General Castillo. 50s. Suit. No umbrella despite the drizzle. Two men behind him.
"Ms. Reyes," he said, smiling. "You look just like him."
"Don't talk about my father."
"I have to. Because he was a visionary. And you, my dear, are his legacy." He gestured. "The code, please."
Ava pulled out a USB. "It's here. Encrypted."
Castillo's men moved forward.
That was the signal.
A shot cracked from Lucas's position. One of the men dropped.
Chaos.
The second man grabbed Ava.
"Let her go!" Maya's voice over comms.
Castillo smiled. "You think this is the only team?"
More men poured from the trees.
Lucas was already moving. Down the fire escape. Across the grass.
He reached Ava in 12 seconds. Put two bullets in the man holding her.
"Run," he told her.
They ran.
But this time, they were ready.
Maya covered them from above. Lucas cleared a path.
They made it to the van. Tires screeching.
As they pulled away, Ava looked back.
Castillo was standing by the fountain, unhurt. Watching.
He raised a hand. Like he was waving goodbye.
Like this was just round one.
In the van, Ava was silent. Then she whispered, "I gave them the fake code."
Lucas looked at her.
"It won't work," she said. "It'll crash their system. For 48 hours."
Lucas nodded. "Good."
"Was that good?" Ava asked. "What we did?"
"It was survival," Lucas said.
Maya glanced back. "So. What's next, Ghost?"
Lucas looked at Ava. The girl with her father's eyes.
"Next," he said, "we stop running. And we end this."
END OF CHAPTER 2
- Writer
