Chapter 2
Maya's POV: "New Assignment"
The coffee cup burst against the wall, missing my head by two inches.
"Get out! All of you, get out!" Dr. Elena Cross screamed at the three bodyguards who were packing their bags and running for the door like scared mice.
I ducked as another cup flew past me. "Dr. Cross, I'm Maya Chen from Elite Protection Services. Your manager called me this morning."
Elena spun around to face me, her eyes wild and red from crying. "Another bodyguard? What's the point? They all quit after two days when things get scary!"
I stayed cool, even though my heart was beating fast. In six years of guarding people, I'd never walked into a situation this crazy. Elena looked like she hadn't slept in weeks. Her hands were shaking, and she kept looking at the windows like someone might crash through them.
"I don't quit," I told her simply. "That's why people hire me."
Elena stared at me for a long moment. Then she sat down hard in her chair and put her face in her hands. "I'm sorry. I'm not usually like this. It's just... the threats are getting worse. And now they know things about me that nobody should know."
I sat down across from her, keeping my voice gentle. "What kind of things?"
"Things from when I was a kid. Things I've never told anyone." Elena looked up at me with scared eyes. "Maya, what if someone wants to hurt me not because of my activism, but because of something I did years ago?"
That was weird. Most activists got threatened because of their work, not their youth. "Dr. Cross, can you tell me what happened when you were younger?"
Elena shook her head quickly. "I can't. If I tell you, you might quit too."
Before I could ask more questions, there was a knock on the door. Elena jumped like someone had fired a gun.
"Expecting someone?" I asked, moving toward the door.
"My boss said he was sending another bodyguard to work with you. But Maya..." Elena grabbed my arm. "I have a really bad feeling about this."
I looked through the peephole and saw a tall man with dark hair and serious eyes. He was wearing a black suit and looked professional, but something about him made my skin crawl. Maybe it was the way he stood perfectly still, like a statue waiting to come to life.
"Dr. Cross? I'm Marcus Stone from Titan Security." His voice was deep and calm, but it sounded fake somehow. Like he was acting in a play.
Elena made a small scared sound. "That name... I've heard that name before."
I opened the door but kept my hand near my gun. "Mr. Stone? I'm Maya Chen. I thought I was handling this case alone."
Marcus stepped into the room, and I noticed Elena moved back like she was scared of him. But when Marcus looked at her, his face showed something I couldn't figure out. Anger? Sadness? Recognition?
"The threats against Dr. Cross have gotten more serious," Marcus said. "My company thinks she needs two bodyguards now."
"More serious how?" I asked.
Marcus pulled out a folder and gave it to me. Inside were pictures of Elena's apartment building, her favorite coffee shop, and her gym. Someone had been following her everywhere.
"These were delivered to her manager's office this morning," Marcus stated. "Along with this note."
He gave me a piece of paper. The message was written in red ink with perfect handwriting: "The guilty child has grown up. Time to pay for old sins."
Elena went totally white when she saw the note. "Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no."
"Dr. Cross, what does this mean?" I asked.
But Elena was backing toward the bathroom, shaking her head. "I can't. I can't do this anymore. Maya, I need you to take me somewhere safe. Somewhere far away from here."
"Elena," Marcus said softly, and the way he said her name made me freeze. It wasn't the way a bodyguard talks to a client. It was personal. Like he'd known her for a long time.
Elena stopped moving and stared at Marcus. "How do you know my real name?"
"Your real name?" I looked between them. "What's going on here?"
Marcus took a step closer to Elena. "You don't remember me, do you? But I remember you. I've been looking for you for fifteen years."
Elena's face went from white to green. "Fifteen years ago, I was just thirteen. I was nobody special."
"You were the most important person in the world," Marcus said, and now his voice was full of pain and anger. "You were the witness who could have saved my little sister's life."
The room went completely quiet. I could hear my own heartbeat.
"Your sister?" Elena whispered. "Eight years old. Hit by a drunk driver who had money and contacts. The case got covered up, witnesses vanished, and the killer walked free." Marcus's hands were shaking now. "But there was one person who saw everything. A thirteen-year-old girl who was meant to testify."
Elena started crying. "I wanted to speak. But my parents said it was too dangerous. They made us leave town and change our names."
"Your silence killed my sister just as much as that drunk driver did."
I stepped between them, my hand on my gun. "Marcus, step back right now."
But Marcus wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Elena like she was a ghost. "Do you know what it's like to lose the only person you love because someone was too scared to tell the truth?"
"I was just a kid!" Elena cried.
"So was she."
That's when I realized something that made my blood turn to ice. I pulled out the note again and looked at the handwriting. Then I thought about what Marcus had just said about fifteen years ago.
"Marcus," I said slowly, "how did you know Elena would be here today? How did you know to apply for this protection job?"
Marcus looked at me with cold, dead eyes. "Because I've been planning this moment for fifteen years. I've been watching Elena Cross, waiting for the right time to get close to her."
Elena gasped. "You're not here to protect me."
"No," Marcus said quietly. "I'm here to make sure you finally pay for what you did."
I reached for my gun, but Marcus was faster. Before I could draw my weapon, he pressed something into my neck. Everything went dark.
The last thing I heard before I passed out was Elena screaming my name and the sound of a door slamming shut.
When I woke up, Elena was gone, and Marcus had left another note in red ink: "One guardian down. One bad witness taken. Twelve more debts to recover. - The Phantom"