Within, the air was stale, heavy with dust and rot. The walls, pocked with graffiti, told secrets of bygone days. Ava's flashlight cut through the blackness, illuminating shattered furniture, splintered glass, and movement that seemed to just barely lurk beyond reach.
A faint noise — a whisper, a cough, a cry?
Ava stood stock-still. "Anish?"
A feeble voice called out, "Ava… help…
She ran towards the sound of the voice, found him lost under rubble and dirty and bruised, but alive — her brother.
Her eyes welled up with tears as she knelt down, her hands intertwined and trembling. "I'm here. We're going to get you out."
While she untangled him, a chill knowledge crept in that this person had not been here by accident. Someone had deliberately trapped him here, but who, and why?
The walls closed in, the shadows darkening. Something cold waited just out of the flashlight's beam.
Outside, Priya's phone rang with an incoming message that sent her blood freezing:
"𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲."
Ava's hold on Anish's hand strengthened, her thoughts whirling. This was no longer a search for her brother — it was a fight against something she hardly comprehended.
And somewhere in the quiet, the bad guy waited, lurking to strike once more.
.........
The evening air was chill, cutting into Ava's skin as she ran away from the falling-down building with Anish hanging off of her.
Priya trailed behind, holding onto her phone for dear life. Each shadow appeared to stretch and contort into menacing forms, and Ava's thoughts were consumed by the questions that would not be still.
"Who set him up there?" she breathed.
Anish winced but could muster a pale smile. "They… they wanted to shut me up. Told me I was sticking my nose in where it didn't belong."
"Who, Anish? Who is 'they'?" Ava's voice shattered.
He coughed, his lips staining red with blood. "The same people who kidnapped sister. The same people who killed Vikram uncle.
The words struck like a thunderclap. Dr. Vikram Joshi ,Ava's uncle - murdered because he found out something too deadly. The pieces were fitting together, but the image was more terrible than she dared to contemplate.
Priya shuddered. "We must take him to a hospital."
"No," Ava snapped, "if they realize where we are, they'll be expecting us. We need to go underground first.
Anish nodded weakly, eyes shutting as fatigue overcame him.
Ava glanced about anxiously, every streetlight a possible signal for observers monitoring their every step.
She rummaged in her pocket for her phone, hands shaking, and scrolled through contacts , pausing at Rohit's name.
Her thumb hung above "call."
The phone trilled, twice, thrice , no response.
A click.
A barely audible whisper: "Ava…"
Her heart jumped.
"Rohit?" she whispered.
"Listen carefully," his voice was strained, tense, as if he were speaking from the brink of danger. "I discovered something… about the villain. About the fire that killed my family."
Ava held Anish tighter. "What is it? Where are you?"
"I can't tell you… not yet. But I'm closer than I was before. The truth is worse than you imagine. And it's not who you would think."
Before she could answer, the line went dead.
The screen flickered, blank.
Silence existed in the car.
"Rohit's alive," Priya whispered, voice trembling.
"But still at risk," Ava answered, face ablaze with determination. "We have to go — and quickly."
Her thoughts reeled. The nemesis — someone near, someone trusted — someone not a suspect.
Why did Rohit's family perish in that blaze? What was the secret hidden under the embers?
And what was the role of Project ECHOES here?
Anish stirred beside her, weak but aware. "I wrote… everything… in my notebook."
Ava pulled the worn leather-bound notebook from her bag.
Pages filled with scrawled notes, strange symbols, dates, names — connections only Anish had the courage to uncover.
"This… this is the key," Ava said softly. "We have to protect it."
Her phone buzzed again.
A new message:
"You're getting too close. Last warning."
Ava's blood ran cold.
"This is war now," she said. "No more running."
Priya nodded. "But we're not alone."
Ava looked up at the starless sky and made a silent promise.
They would find her sister.
They would find Rohit.
And they would uncover the truth behind the villain's mask — no matter how dark, how cruel it was.
Because some secrets refused to stay buried forever.
.................