ONE LAST CHANCE

THE ENEMY INSIDE II

Ava stormed through the door before he could say a word, phone clutched in her hand. Her hair was windblown, eyes wild with fear and fury.

"She's been threatened," she said. "My sister. Someone sent me a photo of her in her dorm. They know where she lives."

Julian was already moving, pulling up a secure line on his tablet. "We'll put a detail on her. She won't be left alone."

Ava's voice cracked. "This isn't just about CrossTech or Echo or the data. They made it personal."

Julian looked at her, his expression unreadable. "That was always the point."

She turned sharply to face him. "You knew this was going to escalate."

"I knew the moment you walked back into my office with those eyes and that temper and that perfect poker face," he said, voice low. "I knew they'd see you as leverage."

"Then why didn't you warn me?"

"Because you would've run," he said, a bitter edge in his voice. "And I've spent five years regretting letting you go once. I wasn't going to do it again."

The words landed heavy between them-emotion, raw and unfiltered, bleeding into the room like smoke after a fire.

But Ava didn't flinch. She crossed the distance between them, chest rising and falling. "So you were willing to put my family at risk? My sister?"

"No," Julian snapped. "I've had people watching you for months. Quietly. You were never in danger-until now. Because someone else realized how much you mean to me."

That stopped her cold.

A long, aching pause.

Julian raked a hand through his hair. "Look. I think I know who sent that message. There's someone on the board-Evelyn Shaw."

Ava blinked. "Your mother's oldest friend?"

He nodded grimly. "She's not just on the board. She's one of the original architects of the Echo project. She helped broker the funding from Blackwell Ventures-before we realized who was really behind them."

Ava frowned. "Shell corporations tied to political PACs and dark money?"

"Exactly. And she was the bridge. The clean face they needed."

Ava began to pace. "So why go after me now?"

Julian hesitated. "Because Echo isn't just a voice-matching algorithm anymore. It evolved. It learned. It knows things people thought were deleted. Emails. Messages. Conversations-"

Ava stopped pacing. "Wait. Are you saying Echo... recorded everything?"

Julian nodded. "Without us knowing. It was supposed to be disabled. It wasn't."

"Oh my god."

"That flash drive you have? That's only a portion. If Evelyn thinks we're going to leak what Echo found-she'll burn the whole company to the ground to protect her legacy."

Ava's mind raced. "And she's using threats to keep us silent."

Julian stepped closer. "Which means we need a counter move. Fast. We expose her before she makes her next one."

A silence stretched between them-hot, charged, magnetic.

But before either could say more, Julian's security panel beeped.

Access breach. Basement level.

Julian's face tightened. "That's the secured garage."

He pulled a gun from the safe under the counter and tossed Ava a taser from the drawer.

"You still remember how to aim?"

She smirked despite the tension. "Better than you ever did."

They headed for the elevator together-adrenaline flooding, secrets building, the line between past and present blurring with every step.

****

Julian's Penthouse - Elevator, En Route to Basement

The ride down was deafening in its silence. Ava gripped the taser tightly, pulse thudding in her ears. Julian stood beside her, every inch of him sharp and alert, the gun steady in his grip.

"Any idea who it could be?" she asked quietly.

"I've got a few enemies," Julian muttered. "But tonight feels... different."

As the elevator reached the basement level, the lights flickered-just once-but it was enough to make both of them tense. The doors slid open with a hiss. Cold concrete. The low hum of emergency lights. The air smelled of oil, metal, and something faintly acrid-like burnt circuitry. Julian raised his weapon. Ava's eyes scanned the rows of sleek black vehicles and shadowed corners.

They stepped out, moving as one. Trained. Controlled.

Then-they heard it.

A click. Metal against tile. Slow footsteps, deliberate.

Julian turned the corner first, weapon raised.

And froze.

Standing near the back wall, half in shadow, was a man in a gray suit. Tall. Older. Scar along his jawline. And unmistakably familiar.

"Victor Raines," Julian growled. "You're supposed to be dead."

Ava's blood ran cold. Victor Raines was the former CTO of CrossTech-the same man who disappeared five years ago after a massive data breach that nearly took down the company.

Julian had told her he was presumed dead. Car found at the bottom of the Hudson. No body.

"I was dead," Raines said, stepping forward slowly. "At least on paper. Evelyn made sure of it."

Julian narrowed his eyes. "Why are you here?"

Raines held up a small device-a black drive, about the size of a thumb. "Because you're about to make the same mistake I did. Trusting the system to fix itself."

"What's on that?" Ava asked, voice sharp.

"Everything Echo learned," he said. "Not just about Evelyn. About politicians. Judges. CEOs. The people pulling the strings while you chase shadows."

Julian lowered his gun slightly. "Why bring it to me?"

"Because you still have the reach. The name. The leverage. And because if I leak this-I die. But if you do it... maybe there's a shot the truth survives."

Suddenly, lights flared behind them-headlights. A black SUV revved from across the garage, its engine screaming.

"MOVE!" Julian shouted, grabbing Ava and diving behind a pillar as gunfire erupted.

Glass shattered. Sparks flew from the ceiling. Raines ducked and rolled, clutching the drive.

Julian returned fire. Ava hit the panic button on the wall-locking down the garage doors.

The SUV crashed into a concrete barrier, smoke billowing from the hood. The driver-masked-stumbled out, firing blindly.

But Raines was already on him.

The fight was brutal. Quick. Efficient.

Until the masked man reached for a detonator.

Ava's heart stopped. "NO!"

Too late. A blast rocked the far side of the garage-sending fire up the wall and throwing them all to the ground.

Julian crawled to Ava, shielding her from falling debris. "You okay?"

She nodded, coughing. "Where's Raines?"

Smoke. Silence. Then-

"Here," came the hoarse voice. Raines staggered out, bleeding from the side, drive still in hand. "We don't have long."

Julian helped him up, eyes flicking toward the spreading fire. "We'll get you out. You can testify. Go on record."

Raines gave a pained smile. "No... I've done my part."

He pressed the drive into Ava's hand.

"You finish it."

And with that, he limped into the shadows-disappearing once more.

---

They barely made it back up before emergency responders arrived. No names given. No statements offered. Just one drive. One chance.

In Ava's trembling hand lay the truth. And now, she realized-this wasn't just about her. Or Julian.

This was bigger than all of them.

And Evelyn Shaw was only the beginning.

The moment the elevator doors closed behind them, the illusion of safety shattered.

Julian slumped against the wall, a streak of blood on his sleeve. "We need to get that looked at," Ava said, already reaching for the med kit.

"It's a graze," he muttered, wincing. "I've had worse."

Ava ignored him, disinfecting the wound with practiced care. Her hands shook-not from the blood, but from what Raines had said.

The drive sat on the coffee table between them like a live wire.

"Do you think it's real?" she finally asked.

Julian looked at her. "It felt real."

"Then we're in more danger than we thought."

He nodded slowly. "We need to decrypt it. But not here."

Ava raised an eyebrow. "You have a safe house?"

Julian smirked despite the pain. "I have six."

She didn't smile back. "You should've told me about Raines. About Evelyn."

"You would've run," he said simply.

She didn't argue.

A sudden buzz broke the moment-Julian's phone. He picked it up, frowned.

Blocked number. He answered on speaker.

A low, modulated voice: "Nice fireworks show, Julian. Pity Raines didn't burn with the rest of your secrets."

Julian sat up straight. "Who is this?"

"Just a friend. Of Evelyn's. She says hello, by the way-and advises you stay in your lane. Or next time, it's not your garage that goes up in flames."

Click.

The line went dead.

Ava was already typing into her phone, cross-checking numbers. "That wasn't a bluff. They were watching. They knew."

Julian stood, pacing. "She has eyes everywhere. We can't trust police. Or security. Not even my board."

"Then we move. Now."

Julian grabbed a duffel bag from the closet-pre-packed, prepped. He tossed Ava a hoodie and motioned toward the back stairwell.

"No digital trail," he said. "We're ghosts now."

"Julian-wait."

He turned.

Ava held up her phone, showing him a text message she'd just received.

It was from Aria Sinclair.

A single line:

> "They're watching me too. Evelyn knows."

Julian stared at the name. "Your sister?"

Ava nodded slowly. "She's the reason I came back."

Julian's eyes darkened. "Then Evelyn's digging deeper than we thought."

Another buzz-this time Julian's burner phone. A photo. Blurry, taken from a high angle.

It was of them. Sitting on the penthouse couch. Moments ago.

They were already inside.

Julian looked at Ava. "We have to go. Now."

As they slipped into the service hallway, Julian's hand found hers-tight, firm.

They weren't just running from danger anymore.

They were running toward the truth.

And the closer they got, the more explosive it threatened to become.

The SUV slowed to a stop behind a nondescript warehouse on the edge of the Hudson. Fog clung to the air like a secret. Julian keyed in a code on a rusted panel near the loading dock. A mechanical groan echoed as a concealed steel door slid open, revealing a freight elevator.

"Old De Luca import facility," he muttered as they stepped inside. "Bought it two years ago under a shell company."

Ava raised an eyebrow. "Because of course you did."

They descended in silence, the hum of the elevator the only sound. When the doors opened, they stepped into something unexpected: a modern command center-concrete walls reinforced with bulletproof glass, monitors looping live security footage, and a long black table littered with burner phones, encrypted drives, and weapons.

Julian turned on the lights. "Welcome to ground zero."

Ava crossed her arms. "You've been preparing for war."

Julian looked at her, voice lower now. "Because I knew one day she'd come for me."

They sat at the central console. Julian plugged in the drive they took from Raines. A loading bar crawled across the screen.

Encrypted.

Ava leaned forward. "Do you recognize the file name?"

Julian's face tightened. "Project Swan."

"What is it?"

He hesitated. "It was... a prototype. Something Evelyn pitched years ago while she was still at CypherTech. A surveillance algorithm. Predictive behavior modeling tied to biometric data. Too dangerous. I shelved it."

"But she didn't," Ava guessed.

"No," he said quietly. "She perfected it."

A progress ding echoed through the space.

The drive opened.

Names. Locations. Transaction records. Faces.

Dozens-hundreds-of individuals under covert surveillance. Senators. CEOs. Journalists. A few were marked "compromised."

Ava's mouth went dry. "This isn't just a corporate power play."

"No," Julian said. "It's a network. Blackmail. Manipulation. Maybe worse."

She pointed to one name on the list.

Aria Sinclair.

Julian froze.

"I told you," Ava whispered. "She's involved. And she's in danger."

Julian tapped another file-one labeled "PR Asset - Echo." It opened to a dossier.

Ava's dossier.

She stood, backing away from the screen. "What the hell is this?"

"They've been watching you since before you came back," Julian said, voice dark.

Ava's heart thundered. Every decision, every client, every move-was it all part of someone else's plan?

Before she could answer, an alert blinked across the screen: Motion detected - Sector 4.

Julian grabbed his gun. "Stay here."

Ava caught his arm. "Not a chance."

---

Elsewhere - Evelyn Shaw's Penthouse

Glass walls. Manhattan skyline burning behind her like a slow, inevitable sunrise.

Evelyn stood barefoot on the marble floor, sipping from a crystal glass, eyes locked on a series of monitors.

One screen showed Julian's safe house. Another showed Ava Sinclair's movements over the past week. A third cycled through real-time facial recognition data from the CypherTech servers she still had access to-illegally.

"He's getting too close," a man said behind her.

Evelyn turned slowly, her smile razor sharp.

"Good. Let him."

The man-a tall, suited shadow with a military posture-shifted uncomfortably. "Raines flipped. If Sinclair gets a hold of Swan's archive-"

"She won't," Evelyn cut in. "Not fully. Not before we're ready."

"And if she does?"

Evelyn's eyes flicked to a final monitor.

The footage was grainy-but unmistakable.

It showed Julian and Ava... kissing in the hallway of his penthouse.

Evelyn smiled.

"Then we remind them why they broke in the first place." She raised her glass. "To leverage."

***

Aria Sinclair sat in her dimly lit room, barefoot, wrapped in a silk robe, and flanked by untouched glasses of wine. A tablet glowed in her hands. Not with Netflix or late-night doomscrolling-but lines of code, surveillance feeds, and encrypted messaging apps few outside the intelligence community had even heard of.

A single name pulsed on the screen: Ava Sinclair.

Aria's jaw tightened.

The message from Evelyn hours earlier still played in her mind like a poisonous whisper:

"You said you wanted to protect her. Then don't get in the way."

Aria had once promised Ava she'd keep her safe. After everything with their family-after the betrayal, the silence, the exile-it was the only thing that kept her going. But Evelyn had found her weakness. And now Aria was caught between her sister and the woman who was playing a game none of them fully understood.

Her encrypted line pinged.

Evelyn:

They're in the safe house. Sector 4 trip triggered. Stand by.

Aria's fingers hovered over her response. She didn't reply. Instead, she minimized the message, opened a remote access panel, and hacked into the Sector 4 camera herself.

The feed came online.

Gun drawn. Julian Cross. Moving through shadow. Behind him, Aria-wide-eyed but steady.

And then-

Movement.

A figure emerged from the shadows near the freight exit. Dressed in matte black tactical gear. Not alone.

Three of them.

"s**t," Aria whispered.

She stood, knocking over the wineglass. It shattered across the tile.

___

At the safehouse

Julian motioned Ava to stay behind a column as he crept forward, every nerve lit like a live wire.

He barely heard them before he saw them-silent boots, hand signals. Professional. Not random thugs.

Corporate security? Military contractors? Worse?

Julian turned the corner-

And caught a flashlight beam straight in the eyes.

Gunfire erupted.

Sparks exploded from the wall beside his head. He ducked, rolled, fired back. One assailant went down-another flanked him, but Ava stepped out from cover and hurled a flash drive case straight into the attacker's temple.

It bought them two seconds.

They bolted.

Julian hit a keypad at the far end of the corridor. A hidden door slid open-vault steel.

"Go!" he shouted.

Ava dove through as he covered her. A bullet grazed his shoulder, ripping through his jacket.

Inside the vault was a backup control room-small, reinforced, and stocked.

Julian slammed the door shut, gasping.

Ava stared at his wound. "You're hit."

"It's nothing," he said through gritted teeth, already digging for a first-aid kit.

Blood soaked through his shirt.

Ava pressed her hands against his shoulder. "That was not nothing."

But Julian was focused on the monitors.

The attackers were retreating.

"Why retreat now?" Ava asked.

Julian's eyes narrowed. "Because they weren't here to kill us."

He rewound the footage. Froze it on one frame-one of the masked figures pocketing something from a desk drawer in the main room.

They hadn't come for him.

They'd come for data.

He turned to Ava.

"They were after your file."

---

Meanwhile - Midtown - A Moving Vehicle

Evelyn Shaw crossed her legs in the backseat of a sleek black town car.

The man beside her passed her a secure tablet.

On it: Ava Sinclair's file. Decrypted. Open.

"I told you," Evelyn murmured. "She's the real threat. Not Julian."

The man hesitated. "What do we do now?"

Evelyn smiled as the car pulled into an underground garage.

"Now?" she said. "Now we activate the next phase."

She tapped the screen.

Execute: Phase Echo.