Flashback – 3 Years Ago
The rain came sideways.
Wind howled through the narrow cobbled streets of Prague like a ghost with unfinished business. Faye Blake tugged the hood of her coat tighter, the red fabric clinging to her like second skin, soaked through and heavy with memory. Her boots splashed through puddles as she darted across the street, dodging cars and shadows.
She was late.
Again.
Her fingers trembled as she reached for her phone, the screen flickering under wet glass. One missed call. Two messages. Both from Elena.
– "Faye, it's happening tonight. I can't outrun this anymore."
– "If I don't come back, it wasn't an accident."
Faye's breath hitched. She stopped short beneath a flickering streetlamp, pulse thundering in her ears.
Where are you? she typed.
No reply.
The last time she'd seen her sister, Elena was wearing that stupid thrifted leather jacket with the broken zipper, eyes bright with secrets she refused to share. She said she had something big—bigger than the Interpol file, bigger than the smuggling ring they'd once tried to expose together. Something that could shatter the system.
Now Faye was chasing ghosts through the city they both loved, the one that had made them and, piece by piece, destroyed them.
Four Hours Earlier
Elena Blake lit a cigarette with shaking hands, standing on the rooftop of an old print shop. She hated smoking. But lately, it was the only thing that calmed her nerves.
Below her, the streets pulsed with Prague's nightlife—bars thudding with bass, tourists laughing in broken English, neon reflections in puddles like shattered stained glass.
She checked the envelope again—thick, waterproof, sealed with wax.
Inside: names. Coordinates. Payoffs. Blackmail. Surveillance stills.
And the card.
Matte black. Gold-edged. A red emblem stamped in the center.
A wolf curled around a dagger.
The same one she'd seen burned into the walls of that compound. The same one branded onto a man's chest before he died without screaming.
She slid the card back in and zipped her jacket. She needed to get to the drop point. Faye would meet her after. If Faye knew she was here early, she'd try to stop her. Try to play protector.
But Elena wasn't the little sister anymore.
She was the threat now.
And threats like her didn't get happy endings.
Present – Rainfall, 11:43 PM
Faye's taxi screeched to a stop outside the train depot.
She threw the driver a handful of bills and ran.
Her boots hit the platform hard as she scanned the tracks. Her eyes caught movement—a flash of a leather jacket disappearing around the side of the building.
"Elena!"
No answer.
She followed, cutting around a corner into a narrow alley, one hand on her holstered weapon, the other gripping her flashlight.
Trash bags. Broken pallets. Oil-slicked pavement.
And blood.
Faye's flashlight beam froze on a smear of red trailing toward the back of the alley. She sprinted.
"Elena!" she called again, voice cracking.
She nearly slipped when she saw her. Crumpled against the brick wall. Soaked in blood. Pale.
"Elena—oh my God—"
Faye dropped to her knees, slipping in the mess as she pressed her hands over her sister's wound. A gunshot, low abdomen, clean exit but heavy blood loss. No medical supplies. No time.
Elena blinked, eyelids fluttering. "Still dramatic," she whispered.
Faye swallowed the sob in her throat. "You're okay. I've got you."
"No," Elena murmured. "Faye... listen..."
Faye shook her head, applying pressure. "Shut up. I'm calling for help. Stay with me."
"You can't." Her sister's fingers curled into Faye's coat. "They're watching. If they see you... they'll kill you too."
"I don't care." Her voice cracked. "I'm not leaving you."
Elena's eyes welled. "You never did."
A long silence hung between them, pierced only by rain, sirens in the distance, and the hiss of something breaking.
"I was going to disappear," Elena whispered. "New name. New life. But I had to finish it. I had to send the files. I had to warn you."
"Warn me about what?"
Elena's hand shook as she reached into her jacket and pressed something into Faye's palm.
The card.
Faye stared at it.
The wolf. The dagger. The crimson gleam like a wound that never healed.
"That's their mark," Elena rasped. "They run everything. They're already inside."
"Who? Who, Elena?"
Elena tried to answer, but her breath caught. Her head dropped back against the wall. The rain poured harder, as if the sky was grieving too.
"No," Faye begged, holding her tighter. "Stay with me. Please."
Her sister's eyes locked on hers one last time.
"Promise me," she whispered.
"What?"
"You won't let them bury me."
Faye blinked back tears. "I swear."
Elena smiled weakly. Then she was gone.
Midnight
The medics were too late. The cops were slower. Faye stood under the awning of a boarded-up bakery, blood on her hands and fire in her chest.
They tried to question her. She gave nothing.
They tried to take the envelope. She burned it first—after copying everything.
All except the card. That stayed with her.
Three weeks later, she resigned from INTERPOL.
Two months after that, she went off-grid.
And she never said Elena's name out loud again.
Back to Present Day – Faye, Alone
Faye stood on a rooftop in Vienna now, staring down at another city that didn't care. Her fingers brushed the inside of her coat. The card was still there, tucked behind her badge.
Same symbol. Same scent of blood.
She lit a cigarette—Elena's brand.
Juno's voice crackled in her earpiece. "You okay, Red?"
"Peachy."
"You sound like you just time-traveled."
"I did."
She stepped away from the edge.
Some ghosts you carried. Others you hunted.
And Faye Blake? She was ready to hunt.