Edge of the Dark

Chapter 49: Chapter 48: The Enemy Hiding in Plain Sight

The air was thick with anticipation. Every shadow seemed to stretch unnaturally, as if the darkness itself were conspiring to swallow the truth whole. Ethan walked down the narrow hallway of the safehouse, his mind racing, each thought slipping into the next with a sense of relentless urgency. The Broker's deal was still fresh in his mind. There were no illusions here—this would not be an easy path. The stakes had been raised, and with every move they made, the risk increased exponentially.

But it wasn't just the Broker that Ethan had to worry about anymore. Something was wrong. A tension had crept into the air over the past few days, a feeling that gnawed at the edges of his mind, whispering that something—someone—was not as they appeared.

It had started with the little things. Small inconsistencies, minor oddities that most people would have overlooked. The way Claire had been so distant lately, her sharp eyes often darting to the door as if she were expecting someone—someone who wasn't supposed to be there. The way Adam's responses had become terse, his usual calm replaced with an almost palpable nervousness that he couldn't quite shake. But the most unsettling of all was Ava. She had been a rock—steady, perceptive, reliable—but lately, her gaze had grown distant. Her smiles had become fleeting, her once reassuring presence now more of a mystery than a comfort.

Ethan couldn't ignore it any longer. One of them—one of the people he had trusted the most—was hiding something. They were all under pressure, the walls closing in on them from all sides, but this felt different. This wasn't just paranoia. This was something deeper, something far more insidious.

He needed answers, but he couldn't afford to confront them directly—not yet. It would have to be done carefully, slowly, with the patience of someone who understood that a single misstep could mean disaster. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

He stopped in front of the door to the small makeshift office where Ava had been holed up for the past few hours. She'd locked herself in after their last meeting, her face pale and tense, as though she were hiding from something—or someone. Ethan leaned against the doorframe, his hand hovering over the knob. He hesitated for a moment before knocking softly.

"Ava?" he called quietly, just loud enough for her to hear.

The silence stretched on for a moment too long, and then he heard the faint shuffle of movement inside. The lock clicked, and the door creaked open just a fraction, enough for him to see a sliver of her face.

"Ethan," she said, her voice tinged with something that sounded like relief, but also like guilt. She opened the door wider and let him in. "What's wrong?"

He stepped inside, his gaze quickly scanning the room. The desk was cluttered with papers, maps, and old dossiers—nothing out of the ordinary. Ava was sitting at the desk, her hands folded in front of her, eyes trained on him as if she were waiting for him to say something. But there was something in her eyes that unsettled him. It was a flicker of something, too quick to catch, too subtle to place, but he could feel it. A wall had gone up between them, one he couldn't cross.

"Ava," he began, his tone softer now. "You've been different lately. I'm not blind, you know."

She tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing. "Different how?"

Ethan crossed his arms, leaning against the edge of the desk. "You've been distant. More than usual. And Claire—" He stopped himself, not wanting to go down that path just yet. "There's something off. We're all feeling it, but you're the one who's been the hardest to read. I need to know what's going on."

Ava didn't flinch. Instead, she met his gaze head-on, her face betraying little. "What do you think is going on, Ethan?"

He didn't answer immediately. There were a hundred different directions he could take this conversation, but none of them felt like they would lead him to the truth. He needed something more. He needed her to let her guard down.

"I think you're hiding something," he said bluntly. "And I don't know if I can trust you anymore."

The words hung in the air like a weight, heavy and unrelenting. Ava's face hardened for a split second, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. Her eyes softened, and she sighed, as if she had been holding her breath for too long.

"You think I'm hiding something?" Her voice was almost a whisper now, and Ethan could see the tightness in her jaw, the subtle trembling of her hands as she reached for a cup of coffee that had long gone cold.

"Everyone's hiding something, Ethan," she said, her voice strained, her gaze turning toward the window. "Including you. You think you're the only one who's been carrying a secret?"

Ethan felt a chill race up his spine. She was right. He had been keeping things from them too, but there was a difference. He had been trying to protect them—not deceive them. He had to know if she was hiding something more than just the weight of the mission.

"What's going on, Ava?" he pressed again, softer this time. "You don't have to carry this burden alone. We're all in this together."

Ava looked up, her eyes suddenly sharp and alert. For a moment, there was something dangerous in them. "Maybe we aren't in this together," she muttered, almost to herself. "Maybe we're all playing a game we don't understand."

The words sent a chill down Ethan's spine, and for a brief moment, he thought he saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes—like she was trying to say something without actually saying it. But before he could press further, the door to the office burst open, and Adam stepped inside, his face tense.

"We've got a problem," he said, his voice urgent.

Ethan turned to him, his mind racing. This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for. The moment when the truth would finally come to light.

"What happened?" Ethan asked, pushing past Ava to face Adam.

Adam's eyes flickered briefly to Ava before he spoke. "I just got word from our contact. The Broker—he's been compromised. The deal's off."

Ethan's heart sank. He had known it was too good to be true. The Broker had always operated in the shadows, but if he'd been compromised, that meant there was a leak somewhere. Someone had betrayed them, and they needed to figure out who before it was too late.

"Who's behind it?" Ethan asked, his mind already racing with the possibilities. Was it the people who had been after them all along, or had they been betrayed by someone they trusted?

"I don't know," Adam replied, his expression grim. "But someone's tipped them off. And the Broker's gone silent. We need to move fast. If we don't, they'll be coming for us next."

Ethan stood still for a moment, his mind spinning as the gravity of the situation hit him. The walls were closing in. Their enemies were everywhere, and now, one of their own might be working against them.

The question wasn't just who was betraying them—it was who could they trust?

He looked at Ava, his eyes narrowing. For the first time, he wondered if the answer had been right in front of him all along.

But before he could voice his suspicions, there was a knock at the door—followed by the unmistakable sound of hurried footsteps approaching the room.

And just like that, their world tilted on its axis. The enemy wasn't just outside anymore.

The enemy was inside.