Chapter 3: No Way Out
Jasper Hawke moved before the squad leader finished his sentence.
With a sharp pivot, he yanked Evelyn backward, using the doorframe for cover as gunfire erupted. Bullets tore through the walls, sending dust and debris into the air.
“Move!” Jasper barked, already reaching for his pistol.
Elias dove behind the overturned couch, fumbling for his laptop. Evelyn was right behind him, eyes wide but steady. She knew the drill.
Jasper had three seconds before the squad stormed inside.
He needed to turn the fight in his favor.
He ducked low and fired two precise shots through the doorway. The first struck a soldier in the leg, dropping him instantly. The second found another man’s shoulder, sending him sprawling against the wall.
A split-second opening.
Jasper grabbed a smoke grenade from his belt, yanked the pin, and tossed it into the hallway.
Thick gray smoke billowed out, swallowing the squad in confusion.
“This way!” Jasper motioned toward the emergency exit at the back of the safehouse. Evelyn grabbed Elias’s arm, dragging him toward the door.
Jasper covered their retreat, firing controlled bursts through the smoke to keep the squad pinned down. Then, with one final shot, he took out the overhead light, plunging the corridor into darkness.
They burst through the emergency exit, spilling into the narrow alleyway behind the building.
Jasper didn’t slow. “We need to split up. They’ll expect us to run together.”
Evelyn hesitated. “And if we lose each other?”
“You won’t,” Jasper said. “Get to the secondary rendezvous point. Berlin.”
She held his gaze for a second before nodding. “Stay alive.”
Then she grabbed Elias and disappeared into the shadows.
Jasper exhaled. Time to vanish.
A Ghost in the City
Jasper moved fast, cutting through the tight alleyways of Vienna. He needed a disguise, cash, and a way out of Austria—fast.
First stop: a dead drop.
Five minutes later, he was crouched behind a derelict bookstore, prying open a loose brick in the wall. Inside:
- A fake passport under the name “Jonathan Pierce.”
- A fold of cash in euros and Swiss francs.
- A small caliber pistol—not his usual preference, but it would do.
Jasper shoved the items into his jacket and moved.
He needed to get off the grid.
Vienna was crawling with CCTV surveillance, and now that Calloway had sanctioned his kill order, every intelligence agency in Europe would be looking for him.
Jasper slipped into a metro station, weaving through the late-night commuters. He swapped jackets with a distracted tourist, pulled a cap low over his face, and ducked into a departing train.
As the doors slid shut, he caught a glimpse of two men in suits scanning the platform.
They were hunting him.
Jasper turned his head, letting the train carry him away.
Berlin was next.
Calloway’s Trap
Jasper reached Berlin by dawn.
The city’s bitter cold bit through his stolen jacket as he navigated toward the rendezvous point—a run-down hotel near Alexanderplatz. The kind of place where nobody asked questions.
He entered through the back, taking the stairs two at a time. Room 412.
Jasper knocked twice, then once more.
Evelyn opened the door. Relief flickered in her eyes.
“You made it,” she breathed.
Jasper stepped inside, closing the door. Elias was seated at the desk, typing frantically.
“We’ve got a big problem,” Elias said. “I cracked the rest of the files on the drive. You’re not just burned, Hawke. You’re the fall guy.”
Jasper’s stomach tightened. “Explain.”
Elias turned his laptop screen around.
The documents showed classified intelligence leaks, weapons transfers, and unauthorized assassinations—all of them tied back to Jasper Hawke’s alias.
Someone had set him up.
Evelyn clenched her jaw. “They’re framing you for an international intelligence breach.”
Jasper exhaled slowly. Calloway wasn’t just trying to kill him—he was erasing him.
“That’s not all,” Elias added. “There’s an encrypted message buried in the files. It was sent from an anonymous source. The timestamp is from two days ago—meaning someone on the inside wants you to see this.”
Jasper leaned in.
The message read:
“Trust no one. Calloway is compromised. The leak is coming from inside the agency. Meet me in Prague. Tomorrow night. Midnight. – R”
A name Jasper hadn’t heard in years.
Evelyn frowned. “Who’s ‘R’?”
Jasper’s jaw tightened. “Ronan Wolfe.”
Elias’s eyes widened. “As in Wolfe—the ex-Black Ops agent who disappeared five years ago?”
“That’s the one,” Jasper muttered.
If Wolfe was reaching out, things were worse than Jasper had imagined.
Evelyn shook her head. “You really think this isn’t a trap?”
Jasper flexed his fingers. “I don’t have a choice. If Wolfe knows the truth, I need to hear it.”
Elias hesitated. “Then we move fast. Because I just picked up chatter on encrypted agency channels.”
Jasper met his gaze. “Let me guess.”
Elias nodded.
“They know you’re in Berlin.”
Jasper exhaled.
No rest for the hunted.
