Trust Issues

Trust Issues
Elena Santos' POV

"You've been lying to me for eight months!" I screamed at Agent Kim through my phone, crouched behind the lighthouse rocks with Ryan. The helicopter sounds were getting louder, and my hands wouldn't stop shaking.
"Elena, I can explain—"
"Explain what? That while I was risking my life to find Chloe's killer, you were playing pretend scientist and watching me like a lab rat?"
Ryan grabbed my arm. "Elena, we don't have time for this. Those planes are almost here."
But I was too angry to think straight. Agent Sarah Kim represented everything I'd run from in Los Angeles—cops who used people, lied to witnesses, and cared more about their cases than human lives.
"Elena, listen to me," Agent Kim's voice was anxious. "I know you don't trust government agents. I know your buddy in LAPD betrayed you. But right now, we're all going to die unless we work together."
"Like you worked with me? By spying on me while I did your job for you?"
"You weren't doing my job. You were doing it better than me."
That caught me off guard. "What?"
"Elena, you found more proof in two weeks than I found in eight months. You joined dots I missed. You got people to trust you in ways I couldn't."
Through the phone, I could hear gunshots starting near the tower. Agent Kim was in trouble, but I was still too angry to care.
"So you used me. Like cops always use people."
"Yes," Agent Kim said simply. "I used you. And I was wrong. But Elena, three harmless girls are going to die tonight if we don't stop Marcus. You can hate me tomorrow. Right now, I need your help."
Ryan was pulling on my sleeve. "Elena, look."
I looked around the rocks and saw men in black uniforms jumping out of two helicopters. They had military guns and moved like soldiers. These weren't neighborhood criminals—these were professional killers.
"Agent Kim, how many backup agents do you have coming?"
"Six agents, twenty minutes away."
I counted twelve armed guys spreading out from the helicopters. "We're outnumbered two to one, and they're better armed."
"That's why I need you, Elena. You know this town. You know the people. I've been pretending to be someone else for so long, I forgot how to get locals to trust me."
A bullet smashed the lighthouse window above us. The shooting was getting closer.
"Elena," Ryan muttered, "we have to move. They'll find us here."
But where could we go? The road back to town was stopped by Marcus's men. The water was behind us. We were stuck.
"Agent Kim, where exactly are you?"
"Pinned down behind my car. Marcus has me in the open, and his paid killers are moving to surround me."
I closed my eyes and made a choice I hoped I wouldn't regret. "Ryan, can you get to the old fishing shack without being seen?"
"Maybe. Why?"
"Because I'm about to do something incredibly stupid." I pressed the phone closer to my ear. "Agent Kim, I'm going to help you. But we do this my way."
"Elena, you don't have to—"
"Yes, I do. Because unlike you, I actually care about the people in this town. Your federal case doesn't mean anything if innocent people get killed."
I pulled out my own gun—the one I'd carried since my LAPD days—and checked the magazine. Six bullets against twelve trained killers and a corrupt sheriff. The odds were terrible. " Agent Kim, in sixty seconds, I'm going to make a distraction. When I do, you run for the boat dock. There's a fishing boat called Mary's Dream. Hide there until backup comes."
"What kind of distraction?"
"The dangerous kind. Ryan, I need you to call Deputy Morrison and tell him federal agents are about to arrest him for trafficking unless he helps us right now."
Ryan looked at me. "Elena, what if Morrison decides to just kill us instead?"
"Then we're no worse off than we are now."
I started crawling through the rocks toward the lighthouse, staying low to escape the searchlights from the helicopters. My heart was pounding so hard I thought the killers might hear it.
Behind me, I heard Ryan on the phone with Morrison: "Jake, this is Dr. Archer. The FBI knows about the gifts. They know about the girls you helped move. But Agent Kim says they'll make a deal if you help us tonight."
Perfect. Either Morrison would panic and help us, or he'd panic and try to kill us. Either way, it would cause confusion.
I reached the edge of the lighthouse clearing and could see Agent Kim stuck behind her car. Marcus was forty feet away, using his police car as cover while his hired killers moved to surround her position.
This was the time. Either I trusted a government agent who'd been lying to me for eight months, or I let her die and tried to handle twelve killers by myself.
My LAPD training kicked in. "Agent Kim, on my signal, run left toward the docks. Don't look back, don't try to help me, just run."
"Elena, those men will kill you."
"Maybe. But if I don't try, they'll definitely kill both of us."
I took three deep breaths and remembered why I'd become a cop in the first place. Not for the thrill, not for the power, but to protect people who couldn't protect themselves.
Tonight, that meant trusting someone I had every reason to hate.
"Agent Kim, what's your real first name?"
"Sarah. Agent Sarah Kim."
"Okay, Sarah. My name is Elena Santos, and I'm about to save your life. Try not to waste it."
I stood up and started shooting at Marcus's position, drawing fire away from Agent Kim. "Run, Sarah! Now!"
The next thirty seconds were chaos. Bullets flew everywhere, helicopter searchlights swept the ground, and I jumped from rock to rock trying not to get shot.
But it worked. Agent Kim made it to the boat dock while Marcus's killers focused on me.
That's when my phone rang. Deputy Morrison.
"Elena, it's Jake. I just got word that federal agents are surrounding the fish plant. Marcus lied to me—he said this was just about moving a few runaway girls, not murder."
"Jake, where are Maria Rodriguez and the other two girls?"
"Hidden in the old church basement. Elena, I'm done being Marcus's puppet. Tell Agent Kim I'll testify about everything I know."
This changed everything. Morrison was moving sides, the missing girls were safe, and Sarah Kim was no longer trapped.
But I was still surrounded by twelve killers in the middle of nowhere.
"Sarah," I whispered into my phone. "Good news and bad news."
"What's the good news?"
"Morrison flipped. The girls are safe. Your case just got a lot stronger."
"What's the bad news?"
I looked around at the armed guys closing in on my position. "I'm about to find out if trusting a federal agent was the stupidest thing I've ever done."
That's when the shooting stopped, and Marcus Daniels' words echoed across the lighthouse clearing: "Elena Santos! I know you can hear me. Walk out with your hands up, or I start killing townspeople one by one."
Through the darkness, I could see headlights coming on the road from town. More cars, more men, more weapons.
"Sarah," I whispered. "How long until backup arrives?"
"Fifteen minutes." Fifteen minutes. I had to keep twelve professional killers and a desperate sheriff busy for fifteen more minutes while saving innocent people.
"Sarah, I need you to make me a promise."
"Anything."
"If I don't make it out of this, make sure the families of those thirty-seven dead girls know the truth. Make sure Marcus pays for what he did."
"Elena, you're going to make it out. We both are."
"How can you be sure?"
Agent Sarah Kim's voice was steady and strong. "Because for the first time in eight months, I'm not working alone. I'm working with someone I trust."
Trust. After everything that had happened in Los Angeles, after being duped by my partner and used by Agent Kim, I was choosing to trust again.
It felt frightening and right at the same time.
"Marcus!" I called out. "Let's talk!"