"Who fired that shot?"
The question came before anyone had even settled into the briefing room. No opening, no formal report, just that, straight to the surface. As if nothing else mattered.
Liv didn't answer immediately.
She stood at the end of the table, the tension still lingering in her body. Not from injury. From something she couldn't name. Her eyes stayed on the main screen, but her focus wasn't really there.
The operator at the console scrolled through the data.
"Sensors didn't pick up a second source. No heat signature, no optical return. It's like that shot never existed."
"So we're hallucinating?" someone tried to joke.
It didn't land.
The operator shook his head.
"Bullets don't stop mid-air on their own."
Silence settled again.
Not because no one wanted to speak.
Because no one had an answer.
Liv stayed quiet.
Her mind was still on that rooftop. Too clean. Too still. Like someone had made sure nothing would be left behind.
"You saw something."
Kai's voice cut through the room, calm but firm.
He stood across the table, one hand resting lightly on the surface. Relaxed posture. Sharp eyes. Locked on her.
"Everyone saw the same thing," Liv said at last.
Kai didn't respond right away. He just watched her, like he was deciding how much of that was truth.
"They saw the result," he said quietly.
"Not the process."
A thin pause stretched between them.
Liv met his gaze. Calm. Closed off.
"What are you thinking?" he asked.
"There was a second sniper."
Simple. Safe.
Too simple.
Kai exhaled slowly, a faint smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. Not because he believed her. Because he knew she was choosing the easy answer.
"A sniper who doesn't exist on any system," he said.
"Interesting."
The footage replayed.
Frame by frame.
The first bullet's path was clean, predictable. Then the impossible happened. The round stopped mid-air, not from impact, but because something else intersected it. From a completely different angle.
Silence returned.
Heavier.
"Two possibilities," Kai said, still watching the screen.
"A third party… or someone who understands our system better than we do."
"And they chose to help us?" someone asked.
Kai shook his head slowly.
"No one helps without a reason."
That shifted everything.
Liv inhaled quietly.
She didn't know who it was. But she knew one thing, that shot wasn't random.
It was a decision.
And it landed on her.
"Target status?" another voice cut in.
"Still active," the operator answered. "But their movement pattern changed. They've lost control too."
Kai nodded slightly.
"Then we're not the only ones compromised."
No one looked reassured.
—
The briefing dissolved without a formal ending.
People left one by one, carrying questions they couldn't answer. No one lingered.
Liv turned toward the door.
"Stay."
She stopped.
The room emptied. The door closed.
Just the two of them.
Kai didn't speak immediately. He walked closer, slow, letting the silence settle.
"You saw more than you said."
Not an accusation.
A conclusion.
"I said what mattered," Liv replied.
"But not everything."
Now he stood close enough that the distance between them felt intentional.
"You reacted too fast," he continued.
"Not to the first shot. The second."
Her heartbeat ticked once, harder.
Her expression didn't change.
"You're reading too much."
"And you're holding too much back."
The air shifted.
This wasn't just analysis anymore.
"If this was just another sniper, I wouldn't care," Kai said quietly.
"But this is different. And you know it."
Liv inhaled slowly.
She could shut this down.
Like always.
But Kai didn't back off.
"I know we're being watched," she said.
Kai didn't react immediately.
"He didn't try to kill you," he said instead.
The words landed clean.
Precise.
Liv didn't answer.
And that was answer enough.
Kai's expression shifted, subtle, like something had just clicked into place.
"Interesting," he murmured.
He stepped back slightly.
"I'll find him," he continued, voice colder now.
"And if he's anywhere near us… I will find him."
A pause.
His gaze returned to her.
"This time, nothing moves outside my control."
Liv didn't respond.
But she felt it.
Everything had shifted.
This wasn't just a mission anymore.
Not just a target.
—
This was about someone who shouldn't exist.
And the moment he did…
everything else stopped making sense.
—
And someone had already started looking for him.
But Liv understood something Kai didn't yet.
Some things aren't found because you search for them.
They find you first.
—
Author's Note:
If something about that second shot stayed with you—
good.
Because whoever saved Liv…
is already watching her again.
Add this to your collection.
Next time, he might not just watch.