The Last Signal

Chapter 6: Cracks

The safehouse was too quiet.

The kind of quiet that made my skin crawl.

No one was talking. Not Scar-face. Not Big Guy. Not even Park.

They dropped us off 20 minutes ago and left. "Decontamination," Scar-face said. Looking at me like I was radioactive.

Now it was just me and Ryker.

And the burn on his chest.

And the blood on his knuckles.

And the silence.

He was at the desk. Back to me. Cleaning his gun. Over and over.

Click.

Slide.

Click.

Slide.

Like if he stopped moving, he’d break.

I sat on the couch. The blanket from last night was still there. Still smelled like soap and metal and him.

My hands were shaking. I tucked them under my thighs.

"You okay?" I asked.

No answer.

"Ryker?"

He didn’t turn.

I stood. I Walked to the kitchenette, and poured water. My hands shook so bad half of it spilled.

I drank anyway. It tasted like nothing.

When I turned, he was watching me in the reflection of the screen.

"Don’t," he said.

"Don’t what?"

"Don’t look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I’m broken."

I set the glass down. Hard. It cracked. "You were on your knees with the Null’s hand on your head! What am I supposed to do, Ryker? Pretend I didn’t see it?"

"Yes," he said. Still not turning. "That’s exactly what you’re supposed to do."

The room went cold.

I crossed my arms. "You can’t just order me around and then shut down. That’s not how this works."

"That’s exactly how this works," he snapped. "I give orders. You follow them. That’s the deal we made."

"The deal changed last night," I said. "When you asked me to stay. When you said we fight together."

He stood. Slammed the gun on the desk. The sound echoed. "The deal didn’t change!"

I flinched.

Not because I was scared. But because his voice cracked. Just for a second.

For a minute, neither of us moved. Just breathing.

Then my head hurt.

Like someone drove an icepick behind my eyes.

The lights buzzed.

Louder.

Angry.

The screens flickered. Static rolled across them.

"Galiana?" Ryker said.

I grabbed the table. "I— I can hear—"

It wasn’t my thoughts.

It was his.

And then it hits me.

It was raining on a heavy nights. I am at the alley in Sector 2. Trash cans. Neon sign flickering... Agent Cruz on the ground. Blood everywhere. A bullet hole in his chest...

He was in his 40s. Gray hair. Kind eyes. The kind that didn’t belong in Bureau.

Ryker holding him... 19 years old. No beard. Scared. Screaming...

"Stay with me! Stay with me! Medic! I need a medic!"

Cruz’s hand. Bloody. Grabbing Ryker’s vest.

"Find... her... Vega. Protect... the girl with the storm..."

Ryker shaking his head. "No. No, don’t—"

Then static. White noise. Like someone turned off the world.

I gasped. Pulled back so hard I fell. I can't believe this.

I was on the floor. Ryker was in front of me. Holding my shoulders.

"Galiana! Breathe! Breathe with me!"

"What— what was that?" I whispered. My voice shook.

He went pale. "Echo feedback. You touched me when I wasn’t guarding. You saw—"

"I saw him die," I said. "I saw you. You were a kid."

His jaw clenched. "Don’t."

"Why didn’t you tell me?"

"Because it’s not your business!"

"It is now!" I yelled. "You’re asking me to trust you! To follow your rules! To risk my life! But you won’t even tell me why you’re so— so cold all the time!"

He let go of me. Stood. Walked to the far wall. Put his hands on it while head down.

"Agent Cruz was my partner," he said. Quiet. Too quiet. "For 6 years. He found me when I was 17. Sleeping in a train station. Stealing food. Running from The Static."

He laughed. Bitter. No humor.

"He could’ve turned me in. Should’ve. But he didn’t. He taught me the rules. Taught me how to shut the noise out. Taught me how to survive."

"And then?" I whispered.

"And then the Static got to him," Ryker said. "Two days after we got a lead on a harvest. He went in alone. Said he didn’t want me to get hurt."

His shoulders shook. Once.

"They left him for me to find. With a message. `Thanks for the lead, Vega.`"

My stomach turned. "Because of me?"

"Because of all of us," he said. "Because we’re too loud. Because we glow in the dark to them. Because I wasn’t fast enough."

He turned. His eyes were red. Not crying. Just... empty.

"You didn’t cause it," he said. "But you’re the reason they’re moving faster now. They have your Signal. They can mimic it. They can find others. Kids like you."

The weight hit me. Like a brick.

"So that’s why you don’t trust me," I said.

"I don’t trust anyone," he said.

"Liar," I whispered.

He didn’t answer.

My phone buzzed. The burner. The one he gave me.

Unknown number.

`Nice view. -S`

Attached: A photo.

Me. On the floor. Ryker holding me. From 30 seconds ago.

Taken from the ceiling camera.

My blood went cold.

"They’re in here," I said. Voice shaking. Showing him the photo and messaged I just received.

Ryker grabbed the phone. Looked at it. His face went blank. The scary kind of blank. He then threw it across the room. It shattered against the wall.

"They’ve been watching," he said. "Since the station. Maybe before."

He ran to the screens. Started typing. Fast. Pulling up feeds. Checking cameras.

"They have access. They have root. They have— shit."

He stopped. Stared at one screen.

Sector 4. The substation. Empty now. Police tape.

But on the ground, drawn in ash and burnt metal...

A signal.

My signal.

The exact pattern my lightning makes when I lose control.

And under it, written in what looked like blood:

`COME FIND ME`

Ryker punched the desk. The wood cracked. "They’re taunting us."

I stood. My legs were still shaky. "Then let’s go."

"No," he said. "Rule 3. You don’t leave my sight. And we’re not going anywhere until I sweep this place for bugs."

"While they take more kids?"

"While I make sure you don’t die!" he yelled.

We stared at each other.

Then I did the stupidest thing.

I reached out. Touched his hand.

The Echo hit again.

But not his past.

His now.

Fear.

Thick and heavy.

Guilt. Like he was drowning in it.

Anger. At himself. At The Static

.

And underneath it all...

Relief. That I was alive. That I was here.

I pulled back. "You do care," I said.

"Don’t," he said. But he didn’t pull away.

"Rule 4," I said. "You don’t lie to me."

He closed his eyes. Sighed. "Yeah. I care. Okay? I care. I care too much. Now can we focus?"

I nodded. My throat was tight.

He let out a breath. "Good. Because we have a problem."

He pointed to the screen. To the ash signal.

"That’s not just a message," he said. "That’s a trap. They want you to come alone. They want to harvest you when you’re emotional. When you’re reckless."

"So we don’t," I said.

"We do," he said. "But on our terms. We use you as bait."

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," he said. "We let them think I’m not with you. We let them take you. And when they do, we hit them."

"That’s insane," I said.

"That’s the only way," he said. "They have part of your Signal. The only way to get them to show their base is to give them the rest."

The room went quiet.

"Can you handle it?" he asked.

I thought about running. About the 3 years. About the noise.

I thought about the 3 missing kids. About Agent Cruz. About Ryker on his knees

.

I thought about the whisper in my head. `Galiana...`

"Yeah," I said. "I can."

He nodded. "Then gear up. We leave in an hour. And Galiana?"

"Hm?"

"If anything goes wrong, you run. You don’t look back. You run."

"Rule 3," I said. "I don’t leave your sight."

A ghost of a smile. "New rule."

As I walked to the locker, he said one more thing.

"Galiana."

I turned.

"Thank you," he said. "For seeing it. And staying anyway."

I didn’t answer.

Because if I did, I might cry.

And the Static would hear it.