No Safe Place
419 Words
Chapter 3: No Safe Place
The motel room smelled like bleach and secrets.
Lena sat on the edge of the bed, her arms wrapped around her knees, watching Jay through narrowed eyes as he paced the length of the room. The walls were thin, the lights too bright, and every sound outside — a car engine, a door slamming — made her flinch.
She hated this. The not knowing. The silence between questions.
Jay finally stopped near the window, peeking past the curtain before speaking.
“They’ll look for you at the cabin. But that won’t be the only place. Once they realize you're not dead... they’ll widen the net.”
“Who are they, Jay?” she asked. “You keep talking like you know them. So tell me who we’re running from.”
He hesitated, then sat down across from her.
“They’re called Halver. A private group. Off-the-books. They started as a black ops project under military intelligence. But your father—he found something. Something they wanted to bury.”
Lena’s breath caught. “The drive.”
Jay nodded. “It’s proof. Names. Code drops. Money trails. Your father was documenting them. Quietly. Carefully. Until he got too close.”
She leaned back, staring at the stained ceiling. “Why didn’t he tell me?”
“To protect you.”
Lena let the silence settle between them again. It didn’t feel like safety—it felt like being trapped inside something that had already begun to collapse.
“You knew him,” she said after a moment. “You knew my father better than I did, didn’t you?”
Jay didn’t deny it.
“Why did you really come back?” she asked, her voice low.
He looked at her then, really looked. “Because I owe him. And because I couldn’t stand the thought of them getting to you, too.”
Her pulse quickened, not just at the words, but at the way he said them. Soft. Firm. Like he meant it.
“But there’s something you’re still not telling me,” she whispered. “I can feel it.”
Jay didn’t move. His eyes stayed locked on hers.
“I’ll tell you everything,” he said. “But you need to be ready to hear it.”
Lena stood up slowly, brushing off invisible dust from her jeans.
“Then start talking. I’m tired of running blind.”
Jay stood too, stepping closer.
And this time… he didn’t stop at a safe distance.
- Writer
