Night Terrors

Night Terrors
Selena's POV
The subway tunnel was flooding.
Selena splashed through knee-deep water, holding the ghost bullet chip high above her head. The tunnel lights flickered on and off. Each flash showed rats swimming past her legs.
"Help!" she yelled. "Somebody help me!"
But the tunnel was empty. Just her and the rising water.
That's when she saw them. Bodies floating toward her. Dead people with their eyes wide open.
The first body had her father's face.
The second had Dr. Martinez's face.
The third had Rook's face.
"No!" Selena screamed. "This isn't real!"
But it felt real. The water was cold. The smell was terrible. And now the bodies were reaching for her with their dead hands.
She tried to run but the water was too deep. She tried to swim but something grabbed her ankle.
It was her mother.
Her mother's ghost, pale and bleeding from a bullet hole in her chest.
"Why didn't you save me?" her mother whispered. "Why did you let them kill me?"
"I was just a kid! I couldn't—"
"You could have stopped Rook. You could have warned me."
"I didn't know!"
"You know now. And you're still letting people die."
The water rose higher. Now it was up to Selena's neck.
"Please, Mom. Tell me what to do."
"Find the real killer. Find who made Rook pull the trigger."
"I'm trying!"
"Try harder. Before everyone you love ends up like me."
The water covered Selena's head. She couldn't breathe. She was drowning in a tunnel full of dead people who blamed her for not saving them.
That's when she woke up.
Selena sat up in bed, gasping for air. Her shirt was soaked with sweat. Her heart was beating so fast it hurt.
She was in a safe house. A tiny apartment with one window and three locks on the door. Rook had brought her here after they escaped the hospital.
The hospital. The FBI. Agent Morrison being Russian. All of it came flooding back.
Selena looked at the clock. Three in the morning.
She had only been asleep for an hour, but it felt like she had been drowning forever.
Her hands were shaking. She couldn't stop them from shaking.
"Just a dream," she whispered. "It was just a dream."
But it didn't feel like just a dream. It felt like a warning.
Selena got up and walked to the window. The city looked empty except for a few cars with their headlights cutting through the dark.
Somewhere out there, people were hunting her. FBI agents who weren't really FBI agents. Russians who had been planning this for fifteen years. And maybe other enemies she didn't even know about yet.
She was tired of running. Tired of being scared. Tired of not knowing who to trust.
The ghost bullet chip was hidden in her shoe. Such a tiny thing to cause so much trouble. But it held the proof that could save her father and destroy Marco.
If she could stay alive long enough to use it.
A noise in the hallway made her freeze. Footsteps. Someone was walking toward their door.
Selena grabbed the gun Rook had left on the table. Her hands were still shaking but she managed to point it at the door.
The footsteps stopped right outside.
Three soft knocks. Then three more. Then three more.
That was Rook's signal. He was back.
Selena unlocked the door and let him in. He was carrying a bag of food and looked tired.
"How's your shoulder?" she asked.
"Hurts. But I'll live." He set the bag on the table. "Did you sleep?"
"A little."
"Bad dreams?"
Selena nodded. She didn't want to talk about the dreams. They made her feel weak.
"About your mother?"
"How did you know?"
"You talk in your sleep. Sometimes you call her name."
Great. Now Rook knew she had nightmares like a little kid.
"I brought Chinese food," he said. "You need to eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"When was the last time you ate?"
Selena tried to remember. Yesterday? The day before? Time was getting mixed up.
"I don't know."
"Eat." Rook handed her a container of fried rice. "You can't fight if you're weak from hunger."
The food actually smelled good. Selena took a small bite. Then a bigger bite. Before she knew it, she had eaten half the container.
"Better?" Rook asked.
"Yeah. Thanks."
They ate in silence for a while. It was weird having a quiet moment with the man who killed her mother. But also kind of normal. Like they were just two tired people sharing a late dinner.
"Rook?"
"Yeah?"
"In my dream, my mom said I need to find the real killer. The person who made you shoot her."
Rook stopped eating. "What else did she say?"
"That everyone I love will end up dead if I don't figure this out."
"Dreams aren't real, Selena."
"But they feel real. And this one felt like a message."
Rook was quiet for a long time. Then he said, "There's something I didn't tell you at the hospital."
"What?"
"About the night your mother died. She didn't just call to warn me someone wanted to kill her."
Selena's heart started beating faster. "What else did she say?"
"She said she had proof. Documents that would bring down not just Marco, but someone much bigger."
"Who?"
"She didn't have time to tell me. The line went dead."
"Do you think she hid the documents?"
"Maybe. But I never found them."
Selena thought about this. "What if the ghost bullet chip isn't the only thing she left behind? What if there's more?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know. But in my dream, she said I knew things I didn't think I knew."
Rook leaned forward. "What did she mean?"
"Maybe there are clues I missed. Things I saw when I was little but didn't understand."
"What kind of things?"
Before Selena could answer, both their phones buzzed at the same time.
Emergency news alert.
Selena read the message and felt her blood turn to ice.
"FBI MANHUNT: Selena Rossi and Unknown Accomplice Wanted for Murder of Federal Agent."
Below the text was a photo of her and Rook leaving the hospital.
"They're saying we killed an FBI agent?" she whispered.
"They're framing us." Rook was already packing their stuff. "We have to move. Now."
"But we didn't kill anyone!"
"Doesn't matter. Every cop in the city will be looking for us."
Selena's phone rang. Unknown number.
She looked at Rook. "Should I answer it?"
"No. It's probably a trap."
But something made her answer anyway.
"Hello?"
"Selena Rossi?" The voice was older. Male. Familiar somehow.
"Who is this?"
"Someone who knew your mother very well. Someone who can help you find what she really hid."
"I don't believe you."
"The documents aren't in a safe or a bank. They're somewhere much closer. Somewhere you've been a thousand times but never looked."
Selena's hands started shaking again. "Who are you?"
"Meet me at the place where your mother used to take you for ice cream. One hour. Come alone."
"I'm not going anywhere alone."
"Then a lot of innocent people are going to die. Starting with Dr. Martinez."
The line went dead.
Selena stared at her phone. Her mother used to take her for ice cream at Sal's Diner. It was three blocks from their old house.
"Who was that?" Rook asked.
"Someone who says they can help us find my mom's hidden documents."
"It's a trap."
"Maybe. But they knew about the ice cream place. They knew my mom took me there."
"Lots of people could know that."
"And they have Dr. Martinez."
Rook stopped packing. "What?"
"They said innocent people will die starting with her."
"They're lying."
Selena's phone buzzed with a text message. A photo of Dr. Martinez tied to a chair. Blood on her face. Terror in her eyes.
"Still think they're lying?" Selena showed him the photo.
Rook stared at the picture. For the first time since she'd known him, he looked scared.
"We can't save her if we're dead," he said.
"We can't let her die because of us."
"Selena, think. This is exactly what they want. To split us up. To get you alone."
"Then come with me."
"They said come alone."
"Since when do we follow orders from kidnappers?"
Rook was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "There's something else. Something I should have told you before."
"What now?"
"The night your mother died, she wasn't just investigating Marco. She was investigating someone in the FBI. Someone who was feeding information to the Russians."
"Agent Morrison?"
"No. Someone higher up. Someone who's been playing both sides for years."
Selena felt like the room was spinning. "How high up?"
"High enough to frame us for murder. High enough to make us disappear forever."
That's when they heard sirens. Lots of them. Getting closer.
Rook looked out the window. "Police cars. At least ten of them."
"How did they find us so fast?"
"Someone's tracking us. Someone who knows exactly where we are at all times."
The sirens were getting louder. Red and blue lights flashed across the walls.
"We have to run," Rook said.
"Where? They'll find us anywhere we go."
"Not anywhere. There's one place they can't track us."
"Where?"
"Underground. The old subway tunnels."
Selena thought of her nightmare. The flooding tunnel. The dead bodies. Her mother's ghost.
"I can't go down there."
"Why not?"
"Bad dreams. Really bad dreams."
"Dreams aren't going to kill you. But the FBI will."
The police were in the building now. Heavy footsteps on the stairs.
"Choose," Rook said. "Face your nightmares or face a bullet."
Selena grabbed her gun and the ghost bullet chip.
"Let's go find some ghosts."