The message came in at midnight. 

It was from someone she never expected to hear from. She whispered to herself,"he was supposed to be dead." 

Anika Rathore has been running for six whole days, trying to dodge every chanceof anyone catching her. She barely had time to catch her breath, let alone sleep.But when Jace Beck's name popped up on her phone, everything changed. In themiddle of the streets of Prague, Anika's hope lit up a little. 

"Never expected to see you here", a voice that made Anika smirk. "I thought youdied", she turned around. And there he was, in a black hoodie that covered his faceslightly. Jace was supposed to be dead; he never made it out of the fire in Dhaka."You left me there to die" his voice was bitter, making Anika's expression change."I was saving you. You would have died one way or another," he pushed his hoodieback, revealing the marks and scratches on his face that their last mission left. Shegasped but soon couldn't grasp her balance. "What happened?" his facetightened. 

She told him about the mission that had gone sideways.The files.The frame-up.How her mentor, Director Voss, painted her as a traitor to cover his tracks. "I haveproof," she whispered. "But I can't decrypt it without you." His eyes shiftedbetween her bag and her face, "Then let's do this". 

They hid in the rustic attics of Žižkov, taking turns watching the door, alwayskeeping a vigilant guard. Bit of bickering over small things was a commonoccurrence between them."You never wrote back?" Jace's eye glistened. 

"I thought you were dead", Anikagulped. 

"You didn't", he replied in a sad, low voice. 

Desperate. 

Messy. 

Thousands of unsaid words. 

The next morning, when Anika woke up, everything was gone. "Noo", she shoutedas she surfed through the attic.The data was gone. 

And so was Jace. 

He met her again at Charles Bridge. She did not think twice before punching him."You are a cheater", she shouted. His expression changed, and anger took overhim too "You lied to me".Both of them fell silent. "You aren't taking the director down; you are taking thewhole agency down", he yelled. 

"They deserve it." 

"They built you!" 

"They used me. They used us." 

Soft expressions were exchanged, but it was short-lived. 

Sirens surrounded them. Drones covered the sky.They have been compromised. "Let's finish this", he said. She nodded, tossing himthe USB, "I am always one step ahead", and pushing him off the bridge. 

She sacrificed herself for him. He will do it for her. 

She knew. 

Loud announcements, shouting, and screams filled Jace's ears as he balancedhimself in the water. 

"Anika", he softly whispered. 

Three months later, a classified leak toppled the entire intelligence division. Vossdisappeared.And Jace Beck was never found again.Once in a while, there had been news that a man comes to a nameless grave,whispers the name Anika, and then disappears into the night in one corner of theworld. 

Whereas in the other corner, someone gasped, "Jace".