She killed the comms. She knew her stepfather. He didn't chase. He cornered.
The rain over Vienna was a persistent, gray whisper against the window of Apartment 4B. Emma Hix adjusted the earpiece, a tiny, flesh-colored device that pulsed with a single, low beep.
“Emma.”
Emma’s finger hovered over the panic button sewn into her jacket seam. Inside the apartment, on a mahogany desk, sat an unassuming USB drive. Inside that drive were the schematics for a next-generation drone guidance system. Her mission: extract, exfiltrate, disappear. Standard fare for a field agent of her caliber.
“You left your phone on the kitchen counter,” he said, taking a slow step forward. “The one with the encrypted battery. Sloppy. Your mother found it while looking for the TV remote.” -MyFamilyPies- Emma Hix - Secret Agent Step Dad...
She paused at the window.
He took another step. Now he was close enough that she could smell his cologne—the same one he wore to her college graduation. She killed the comms
Mark Hix, secret agent stepdad, looked at her with the same exasperated fondness he’d worn the time she crashed his car at sixteen.
Emma stared at the drive in his palm. It could be a trap. It could be the truth. In her world, they were often the same thing. He cornered
He reached into his jacket. Emma tensed, but he withdrew not a weapon—but a second USB drive. Identical to the one in her boot.
“I can’t do that,” she said quietly.