First Blood
Rook's POV
The bullet shattered the windshield three inches from Rook's head.
"Get down!" he screamed, yanking the steering wheel hard to the right.
Selena dropped to the floor of the car just as another bullet punched through the passenger window. Glass rained down on her dark hair like deadly snow.
"Who are they?" she yelled over the roar of engines behind them.
Rook checked the mirror. Three black cars gaining fast. Professional drivers. Professional killers. "The same people who killed Marco."
The car lurched as bullets hit the trunk. Rook pressed the gas pedal to the floor, but their sedan was no match for the souped-up vehicles chasing them.
"Hold on," he warned.
He spun the wheel left and drove straight into oncoming traffic. Cars honked and swerved. A truck missed them by inches. Selena screamed.
But the move worked. Two of the chase cars couldn't follow. They crashed into each other trying to avoid a city bus.
One car made it through.
"Still there," Rook muttered, checking the mirror again.
The remaining chase car pulled up beside them. Rook saw the passenger window rolling down. Saw the gun barrel appearing.
Time slowed down.
Rook had lived through moments like this a hundred times. The space between heartbeats where death waited. Most people froze. Rook moved faster.
He yanked his pistol from his shoulder holster and fired three shots through his own window. The chase car's passenger slumped forward, blood spreading across his shirt.
The chase car swerved and crashed into a light pole.
"Is it over?" Selena asked, her voice shaking.
Rook slowed the car and pulled into an alley. "For now."
Selena sat up slowly, brushing glass from her hair. She looked at Rook with wide eyes. Not just scared. Something else. Something that made his chest tight.
She was looking at him like he was a monster.
"You killed him," she whispered.
"I saved us."
"You didn't even hesitate."
Rook put his gun back in its holster. "Hesitation gets you dead."
"But he... he had a family. Kids maybe."
"He was trying to murder you."
"That doesn't make it easy!"
Rook stared at her. In his world, killing was like breathing. Necessary. Automatic. He had forgotten that normal people struggled with it.
"It's not supposed to be easy," he said quietly.
Selena wrapped her arms around herself. "How many people have you killed?"
"I stopped counting."
The honesty hit her like a punch. She turned away from him, staring out the broken window.
"I can't do this," she said. "I can't live in your world."
"You don't have a choice."
"There's always a choice."
"Not anymore."
Rook started the engine again. They needed to find somewhere safe. Somewhere he could think and plan their next move.
"Where are we going?" Selena asked.
"Safe house."
"Another one of Dad's places?"
"No. One of mine."
They drove through the worst part of the city. Past empty factories and broken streetlights. Past places where hope went to die.
Rook pulled up to a rundown apartment building. Half the windows were boarded up. Graffiti covered the walls.
"This is it?" Selena looked horrified.
"No one will look for you here."
They climbed three flights of stairs. The hallway smelled like cigarettes and broken dreams. Rook unlocked apartment 3B and pushed the door open.
The place was small but clean. Basic furniture. No personal touches. Like a hotel room for ghosts.
"Home sweet home," Selena muttered.
Rook locked three different deadbolts behind them. "It's secure."
"It's depressing."
"Depression doesn't kill you. Bullets do."
Selena sat on the old couch and put her head in her hands. "This is insane. Yesterday I was worried about computer passwords. Now I'm hiding from assassins."
Rook watched her shoulders shake. She was trying not to cry. Trying to be strong. It reminded him of someone else. Someone he had failed to protect.
"Your mother was brave too," he said without thinking.
Selena's head snapped up. "What did you say?"
Rook cursed silently. He had revealed too much. "Nothing."
"You said my mother was brave. How would you know that?"
"I told you. She saved my life once."
"When? How?"
Rook walked to the window and checked the street below. Empty. But that didn't mean they were safe. "It doesn't matter."
"It matters to me."
"Why?"
"Because she's been dead for three years and you're the first person who's talked about her like you actually knew her!"
The pain in Selena's voice cut through Rook like a blade. He had spent years learning to ignore other people's pain. But hers was different. Hers reached something deep inside him that he thought was dead.
"She wasn't supposed to die," he said quietly.
"What does that mean?"
Rook closed his eyes. Three years ago felt like yesterday. The job that changed everything. The job that broke him.
"I can't tell you."
"Can't or won't?"
"Both."
Selena stood up and walked over to him. "Look at me."
Rook didn't turn around.
"Look at me!" she demanded.
He turned. Her eyes were full of tears, but her jaw was set with determination. She looked exactly like her mother in that moment.
"Someone killed the most important person in my life," Selena said. "And you know something about it. You owe me the truth."
"I don't owe you anything."
"Yes, you do. Because you couldn't save her, and now you're trying to save me. That's what this is really about, isn't it?"
The words hit him like bullets. Because she was right. Every instinct told him to lie. To push her away. To keep his secrets buried.
But those eyes. Those damn eyes that looked just like her mother's.
"You want the truth?" he asked.
"Yes."
"The truth is that your mother died because she trusted the wrong person."
"Who?"
"Someone close to your family. Someone she never suspected."
Selena's face went pale. "Who?"
Before Rook could answer, his phone buzzed. Text message from an unknown number.
He read it and felt his blood turn to ice.
"What is it?" Selena asked, seeing his expression.
Rook showed her the phone.
The message was simple: "WE HAVE YOUR FATHER. WAREHOUSE DISTRICT 9. COME ALONE OR HE DIES."
Attached was a photo of Enzo Rossi tied to a chair, blood running down his face.
"Dad," Selena whispered.
"It's a trap," Rook said.
"I don't care."
"They want you, not him."
"Then they can have me."
"No."
Selena grabbed his arm. "He's my father!"
"And you're his daughter. He wouldn't want you to die for him."
"But you'll go anyway, won't you?"
Rook looked at the photo again. Enzo had given him a life when he had nothing. Had trusted him with the most important job in the world - protecting Selena.
"Yes," he said.
"Then I'm coming with you."
"Absolutely not."
"You can't stop me."
"I can lock you in this apartment."
"And then what? If they kill you and Dad, I'm dead anyway. At least this way, we face it together."
Rook stared at her. Stubborn. Brave. Willing to die for family. Just like her mother.
"If we do this," he said, "you follow my orders. No questions. No arguments."
"Deal."
"And if I tell you to run, you run. No matter what's happening to me or your father."
Selena hesitated. "I... I can't promise that."
"Then we don't go."
"Fine. I promise."
Rook knew she was lying. Just like he was lying about having a plan. But they were out of options.
He checked his weapons and grabbed extra ammunition.
"One more thing," he said as they headed for the door.
"What?"
"The person who betrayed your mother. The one she trusted."
"Yes?"
Rook met her eyes. "They'll be at the warehouse tonight."
Selena's face went white. "How do you know?"
"Because," Rook said grimly, "this whole thing was designed to bring us all together in one place."
"Why?"
"To finish what they started three years ago."
As they walked down the dark hallway, Selena asked the question that had been haunting both of them:
"What if we don't make it out alive?"
Rook paused at the top of the stairs.
"Then at least you'll finally know who killed your mother."
The words hung in the air like a death sentence as they descended into the darkness.