Where Ghosts Hide

The cold hit like the world snapping back into place, bitter, wide, and full of eyes, as Jessica, Leanna, and Olivia emerged from the facility’s underground tunnel. They had made it out, but every second felt like borrowed time. Vanguard wouldn’t let them vanish.

Leanna clutched her tablet, scanning their surroundings. "We need to split up. If they’re tracking us, we’re an easy target together."

Jessica wiped the sweat from her brow, her adrenaline still surging. "Agreed. We need safe houses, new identities. Olivia, you got connections?"

Olivia nodded, already dialing a number on a burner phone. "I know a guy in Buenos Aires. He can get us clean documents, but we’ll need to lay low until then."

Jessica exhaled, the weight of the past few hours pressing down on her. Elias was gone. And not just physically—he had chosen Vanguard.

Leanna’s voice pulled her back. "Forty-eight hours. Docks. No contact. If you get burned — vanish. Don’t be a hero."

Jessica glanced at Olivia. "You sure your guy can be trusted?"

Olivia smirked. "I trust him as much as I trust anyone in this game. Which is to say… not at all. But he owes me, that’ll do."

The three of them exchanged nods before disappearing into the shadows, each moving in a different direction.

---

Forty-Eight Hours Later—Buenos Aires Docks, Jessica adjusted her hoodie, keeping her face low as she scanned the harbor. The city buzzed with life, oblivious to the storm raging beneath the surface. She spotted Leanna first, leaning casually against a rusted shipping container, looking as inconspicuous as ever.

Olivia arrived next, slipping through the crowd like a ghost. "The IDs are solid," she said, handing over the documents. "New names, new histories. We disappear after this."

Jessica hesitated, flipping through her new passport. Jessica Martinez. Funny thing about names. Easy to change. Harder to live with.

She sighed. "So this is it. We just walk away?"

Leanna crossed her arms. "We regroup. Lay low. But we don’t walk away. Not from this."

Jessica met her gaze and nodded. Vanguard was still out there. So were they. And next time, someone wasn’t walking away. Somewhere, deep inside Vanguard’s headquarters, Elias was making his choice. The next time they met, it wouldn’t be as allies.