The envelope in Maya's hands felt heavier than steel. Each rustle of paper sounded like thunder in the stillness.
She sat on the rusted bench under the flickering pier light, the cold iron biting through her hospital gown. Liam stood beside her, unmoving, his jaw clenched so tight it trembled. His gaze never left Kai, who now leaned against a support beam, arms crossed like a man awaiting a verdict he already knew.
Dr. Arden hovered near the edge of the dock, wind tousling her hair as she stared out at the ink-black water below. The crashing waves whispered secrets that no one wanted to hear.
Maya slowly peeled back the envelope flap. Her fingers trembled, the paper resisting her like it too was afraid of what lay inside.
Inside were documents. Not just medical files — classified reports, scans, handwritten notes, and one photo that made her blood run cold.
It was her — but not just her. It was her, asleep, wires threaded into her arms, glowing blue serum running through her veins.
"This isn't chemo," she whispered, voice cracking.
"No," Dr. Arden said, finally turning around. "It's Chronozyme. A synthetic compound designed to… alter cellular time perception. A prototype treatment. Unauthorized. Unstable."
Liam froze. "She's been experimented on?"
Dr. Arden's nod was slow. "They never told her. They never told any of the patients."
Maya's head spun. The fog, the hallucinations, the time warps she'd felt — moments when the world stuttered or fast-forwarded — they weren't just trauma. They were real.
She looked up at Kai, tears brimming but unshed. "You knew."
He didn't deny it.
Maya stood, the papers clutched in her fist. "You let them use me."
Kai's voice was low, hoarse. "No. I begged them to choose someone else. But you were the anomaly. The perfect candidate. And they promised… it could cure you."
"But at what cost?" Liam shouted, stepping forward. "You let them steal her life!"
Kai flinched.
"I stole time," he snapped. "To buy her more."
"And now it's running out," Maya whispered, more to herself than anyone.
Silence fell. The wind howled. The pier groaned beneath them as if echoing the weight of the truth.
Then, without warning—
The light above them shattered.
Maya screamed as glass rained down. Liam grabbed her, shielding her with his body as sparks fizzled and the world dropped into darkness.
A single red beam flashed across the fog — a laser sight.
"Down!" Kai yelled.
Gunfire cracked — loud, close.
Maya hit the planks hard, Liam pressing her down. The documents flew from her grasp, scattering like dying feathers into the wind.
Shadows emerged from the mist. Three figures, masked and armed, moving with surgical precision.
"They found us," Dr. Arden whispered, eyes wide. "The organization."
Kai ducked behind a crate, pulling a sleek black device from his coat — a compact energy gun. "We have to move. Now!"
But Maya didn't move. Her eyes were on one paper, caught on a nail at the edge of the pier, fluttering violently. It wasn't a report.
It was a pregnancy scan.
Dated five weeks ago.
Name: Maya R. Crosswell.
Her heart stopped.
Liam saw it at the same time she did. "Maya…?"
Before she could speak, the pier shuddered with a deafening explosion. Fire erupted from the far end — and the masked figures advanced through the flames like ghosts of vengeance.
Kai turned to her, face stricken with something Maya had never seen before — fear.
"Get her out!" he shouted to Liam. "She's not just the target anymore — she's the key!"
The fog swallowed the truth as chaos reigned.
But Maya's hands weren't shaking anymore.
She was done being a pawn.
Now, she needed answers. For her child. For her life.
And the countdown?
It had just been reset.