Pawn No More

The road stretched ahead, empty and dark. No one spoke. The glow of the burning vault had faded behind them, but Jessica could still feel it—the heat of the explosion, the weight of the trigger beneath her finger.

Leanna drove in silence, eyes fixed ahead. Olivia sat in the back, staring out the window, arms crossed. Jessica didn’t know what to say to either of them.

She wasn’t even sure what she would say to herself.

* * *

They stopped at a rundown roadside motel, the kind of place that didn’t ask for IDs or explanations.

Olivia grabbed a room key without a word.

Leanna exhaled, rolling her shoulders. “We’ll figure out the next move in the morning.”

Jessica nodded, a mechanical motion. She could feel their eyes on her. They were worried. She didn’t have the energy to reassure them.

“I need some air.”

Olivia started to reply, but she never got the chance. Jessica stepped outside before they could argue.

* * *

The air was crisp against her skin as she walked past the parking lot, past the neon flicker of a motel sign half-burned out.

Her fingers drifted to the pawn pendant around her neck. Still a pawn, after all. She closed her eyes, exhaled. For the first time in a long time, she felt adrift. She reached into her jacket pocket. Her phone felt heavier than it should have.

She already knew the number by heart. Normally, she avoided calling him while she was on the move. It was too risky, too personal. But tonight, the silence was too loud. Her thumb hovered over the screen for a moment. She hated how much she needed this. Then, with a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, she pressed send.

He picked up on the second ring. “Jess.”

She swallowed, staring at the pavement. She didn’t know what to say.

Sam waited.

Then, finally, Jessica exhaled. “I burned it all down.”

A pause. Then, calmly: “I figured you would.”

Jessica’s grip tightened around the phone. “I don’t even know if it mattered.”

“Did it matter to you?”

She hesitated. The question cut deeper than she expected. Then she replied with tears in her eyes, “I don’t know.”

Sam’s voice was quiet. “Then that’s what you have to figure out.”

Jessica closed her eyes. “I keep thinking about what you said. That I’m what I choose to be.”

Sam exhaled. “And what did you choose today?”

She hesitated. Then she simply said, “To make sure no one else could use it.”

Sam’s voice was steady. “Then that’s what matters.”

There was a long silence. Jessica’s voice was quieter now. “I don’t know who I am, Sam.”

He didn’t try to tell her otherwise. He just listened. Finally, his voice came back, low and even. “Then you keep moving forward. Until you do.”

She ended the call before she could say too much. For a long time, she stood there, breathing, staring up at the night sky. Then, finally, she knew what she had to do. She turned back toward the motel.

No more running. No more shadows. It was time to face the one man who started it all. She was going to find Mr. Black. She was going to get her final answers.