Eva didn’t. She stepped toward the door. Reid hissed.
«Doc?»
«Trust me,» she whispered.
She nudged the door open with her foot. Nothing. Just darkness, old boxes, and surgical supply crates.
Then, a reflection. Not in front of her. Behind her.
Eva dove sideways as a man in scrubs lunged out of the opposite doorway, a suppressed pistol already rising. He aimed for the Admiral first.
Reid fired. A single pop. The attacker crumpled silently, dropping like a marionette with cut strings.
Eva exhaled the breath she’d been holding. Reid leaned against the wall, gripping his ribs as blood pushed through the fresh bandages.
«You okay?» she asked.
He smirked. «Just bleeding internally. Nothing new.»
The Admiral checked the downed man’s sleeve. «No insignia. No ID. Clean gear. They came prepared.»
Eva crouched beside the body, running her fingers along the wrist.
«No pulse,» she said softly. «Headshot.»
«That’s the idea,» Reid muttered.
Eva stood slowly. «This was a test.»
«For what?» the Admiral asked. «To see if I’d flinch?»
The Admiral’s face shifted. Admiration mixed with worry. But before he could respond, the security lights cut out entirely.
Pitch black swallowed the hallway, everything except the soft glow of an emergency sign buzzing above their heads. Then the PA system crackled again.
«Eva Weston, you always run toward the fire, don’t you?»
Eva’s breath hitched. She recognized that tone, that confidence, that venom. Reid’s eyes widened.
«No, it can’t be him.»
The Admiral clenched his teeth. «We saw his body.»
«No,» Eva whispered. «We saw the rubble.»
The voice continued. «You should have stayed buried, Eva. We burned your team for a reason.»
Reid stepped forward. «Show yourself! Coward!»
A soft laugh drifted through the speakers. «I’m in the place you once saved lives, medic. Come find me. Radiology. The darkest wing in the hospital.»
Eva straightened, adrenaline sharpening her senses to a fine edge. «He wants me there.»
The Admiral grabbed her wrist. «You’re walking into a trap.»
«Of course I am,» she said, pulling her arm free. «That’s the point.»
Reid limped forward. «Doc, I’m with you.»
Eva placed her hand on his chest, over the fresh bandages, over the bandages she stitched hours ago.
«You’ll slow me down,» she scowled.
«Try me.»
The Admiral stepped between them, voice low. «He’s baiting you. We go as a team.»
«No,» Eva said. «If I go with backup, he’ll run. If I go alone, he’ll wait.»
The Admiral’s jaw clenched so hard his teeth clicked. «Weston!»
«This ends tonight,» she whispered. «He killed my team. He left us to die. He came for Reid. He’ll keep coming.»
Reid’s voice softened. «Doc!»
Eva turned away from them both, facing the dark corridor stretching toward Radiology like a throat of shadow. She let herself breathe: slow, deep, controlled. Her boots moved on their own.
The Admiral cursed under his breath. «Weston!»
But she didn’t stop. She moved deeper into the hallway. The moment she passed the last working emergency light, darkness swallowed her whole, and voices whispered from the vents, not just one now, but several.
«You never learn to stay dead.»
Her fingers brushed the metal railing as she walked. Footsteps followed her. Not Reid’s. Not the Admiral’s.
Something slower. She forced herself not to turn. Let them think she was scared. Let them think she was untrained. Let them think she was prey.
Another voice whispered behind her. «You should have died in that valley.»
She kept walking. The PA system buzzed above her head as she reached the Radiology wing door. It was cracked open, just like in Afghanistan.
Just like the last time her team walked into an ambush. Her hand hovered over the door. She pushed it open.
Light flickered inside. A figure stood in the middle of the room: tall, broad-shouldered, wearing tactical black. A mask covered his face.
But his voice? His voice bled through the air like poison.
«Hello, Medic.»
Eva froze, because now she knew. He wasn’t alone. Multiple shadows shifted behind him, and every one of them stepped into the dim light: armed, waiting, surrounding her.