Blood and Bullets

Maya's POV

The gun was already in my hand before I knew I had grabbed it.

Three shots. Bang. Bang. Bang.

The man who wanted to kill me dropped to the floor like a broken toy.

My ears were ringing. My hands were shaking. But I was alive.

"Maya!" Marcus yelled from behind a stack of boxes. "Get down!"

More bullets flew past my head. Glass crashed somewhere behind me. People were screaming.

How did this happen so fast?

One minute we were walking into the warehouse for some stupid meeting. The next minute, everyone was trying to kill us.

I rolled behind a metal table just as more shots rang out. My heart was beating so loud I could hear it over the gunfire.

"Where did they come from?" I shouted to nobody.

Dante was pressed against a concrete wall about ten feet away. Blood was running down his arm. His fancy suit was torn and dirty.

"It's a trap," he called back to me. "Your father set us up."

My father?

No. That couldn't be right.

Dad was weak and scared. He ran away when things got hard. But he wouldn't try to get me killed. Would he?

Another gunman came around the corner. This one was huge and had tattoos covering his arms. He raised his gun toward me.

I didn't think. I just moved.

The pistol in my hand felt heavy but familiar. I aimed and pulled the trigger twice.

The big man stumbled backward and fell.

"Holy..." Luca started to say something but another burst of gunfire cut him off.

Adrian was nowhere to be seen. That scared me more than the shooting. When Adrian disappeared, it usually meant someone was about to die.

"How many are there?" Marcus shouted. He was trying to get to me but more men kept appearing.

"Too many," Dante replied. His voice was calm even though we were probably all going to die.

I looked around for a way out. The main door was blocked by at least five men with guns. The windows were too high to reach. We were stuck.

That's when I saw him.

My father.

Vincent Chen stood near the back of the warehouse. He wasn't hiding from the bullets like the rest of us. He was talking to a man in a black coat like they were old friends.

My stomach dropped.

Dante was right. This was a trap. And my own father had helped set it.

"Dad?" I whispered.

He couldn't hear me over the noise. But when he turned his head, our eyes met across the warehouse.

He didn't look surprised to see me. He didn't look worried that I might get shot.

He looked guilty.

"Maya, move!" Marcus screamed.

I rolled just in time. A bullet hit the spot where my head had been a second before.

Three more men were coming toward us. They had us surrounded now.

I checked my gun. Only two bullets left.

That's when I heard the whistle.

It was soft and low. Almost like a bird call.

Adrian.

The lights went out.

In the darkness, I heard sounds that made my blood run cold. Quiet grunts. Bodies hitting the floor. Someone choking.

When emergency lights flickered on a few seconds later, three of the gunmen were dead. Adrian stood behind them like a shadow that had come alive.

But more were coming.

"This way," he said. His voice was so quiet I almost missed it.

We ran toward the back of the warehouse. Dante was limping but he kept up. Marcus was bleeding from his shoulder but he stayed close to protect me.

Luca grabbed my hand as we ran. "You okay?"

I nodded even though I wasn't sure. Nothing about this felt okay.

We reached a door marked "Exit" but it was locked.

"Stand back," Marcus said. He kicked the door so hard it flew off its hinges.

Cool night air hit my face. We were in an alley behind the warehouse.

"The car is two blocks north," Dante said. "We need to—"

"Going somewhere?"

My father stepped out of the shadows. But he wasn't alone.

Six men with guns surrounded us in the alley. We had run right into another trap.

"Hello, sweetheart," Dad said to me. He didn't sound like the scared man who used to hide in his room. He sounded different. Harder.

"Why?" I asked. My voice cracked like I was still a little kid.

"Business," he said like it was simple. "Nothing personal."

"I'm your daughter!"

"And you're worth two million dollars to the right people."

The words hit me like a punch to the stomach. My own father was selling me.

Dante stepped forward. Even bleeding and outnumbered, he looked dangerous.

"Vincent," he said. "You're making a mistake."

"No," Dad replied. "The mistake was trusting you people. But I found better partners."

He nodded to the men with guns. They all raised their weapons at the same time.

"Nothing personal," Dad said again.

That's when I felt something I had never felt before. It wasn't fear or sadness.

It was rage.

Pure, burning rage.

My father had left me to struggle alone. He had let me work three jobs just to keep the lights on. He had disappeared when I needed him most.

And now he was going to sell me like I was nothing.

The gun in my hand felt different now. Not heavy. Not unfamiliar.

It felt right.

"You know what, Dad?" I said. My voice didn't shake anymore.

"What's that, sweetheart?"

"You're right. Nothing personal."

I raised my gun and pointed it straight at his heart.

His eyes went wide. "Maya, what are you—"

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Dante had asked me in the warehouse.

The truth was, I had learned from the best teacher in the world.

My mother.

But Mom hadn't just taught me to shoot. She had taught me to survive. To fight. To never let anyone make me feel small.

"Mom would be ashamed of you," I told my father.

"Your mother is dead," he said. But his voice was shaking now.

"Because of them," I said, looking at Dante and the others. "But you're about to be dead because of me."

The six gunmen were watching us like this was a movie. They seemed confused about whether to shoot me or wait for my father's orders.

"Maya, put the gun down," Dad said. "These men will kill you."

"Maybe," I said. "But I'll kill you first."

Behind me, I heard Marcus whisper something to the others. They were getting ready to fight.

We were still outnumbered. We might all die in this alley.

But I wasn't going to let my father sell me like a piece of property.

"Last chance, Dad," I said. "Call them off."

He looked at me for a long moment. I could see him trying to figure out if I would really do it.

"You won't shoot me," he said finally. "I'm your father."

"You stopped being my father the day you left."

I started to squeeze the trigger.

That's when the windows above us exploded.

Men in black clothes and masks crashed through the glass like deadly angels falling from heaven.

Red laser dots appeared on everyone's chest.

"FBI! Everyone on the ground!"

My father's face went white. "This wasn't the plan."

"What plan?" I screamed over the noise.

More agents poured into the alley from both ends. We were completely surrounded now.

"Vincent Chen," a woman's voice called out. "You're under arrest."

But Dad wasn't looking at the FBI agents.

He was looking at me.

"Your mother," he said. His voice was barely a whisper. "She's not dead."

The world stopped spinning.

"What?"

"Agent Sarah Chen is alive, Maya. And she's been looking for you."

A woman stepped out from behind the FBI agents. She was tall and strong-looking. Her hair was shorter than I remembered, and she had a scar on her face that hadn't been there before.

But I knew those eyes.

"Hello, baby," my mother said.

The gun fell from my hand and clattered on the concrete.

Everything I thought I knew was a lie.

My mother was alive.

She was FBI.

And she was pointing a gun at the four men I was starting to care about.

"Step away from my daughter," Mom said to Dante. Her voice was cold as winter.

But I wasn't ready to step away.

Not from them.

Not from the life I was building.

Not from the person I was becoming.

"No," I said.

Everyone stared at me.

"Maya," Mom said. "These men kidnapped you."

"These men saved me," I replied.

"They're criminals."

"So am I now."

The words hung in the air like smoke from my gun.

My mother's face cracked just a little. "What have they done to you?"

"They showed me who I really am."

Red laser dots were still dancing on everyone's chests. FBI agents had their fingers on triggers. My father was probably about to go to prison forever.

And I had to choose.

My old life or my new one.

My mother or my men.

The girl I used to be or the woman I was becoming.

"Come home, Maya," Mom said. "Please."

I looked at Dante. At Marcus. At Luca. At Adrian.

Four men who had taken everything from me and given me something better in return.

Four men who had made me stronger than I ever thought I could be.

"I am home," I said.

That's when all hell broke loose