Maya's Run

Maya Chen's POV

Maya pressed her back against the cold stone wall of Saint Mary's Church. Blood dripped from her shoulder onto the dusty floor. Every breath hurt, but she had to stay quiet.

Through the etched glass windows, she could see car headlights moving slowly down Main Street. They were looking for her.

Maya pulled out her phone with shaking hands. The screen was cracked from her fall, but it still worked. She had to make a call before they found her. But not to Agent Kim. Not anymore.

She scrolled through her contacts until she found a number she hadn't used in two years. Agent David Cruz. The only FBI agent she trusted completely.

Maya pressed the call button and waited. One ring. Two rings.

"Cruz here."

"David, it's Maya Chen. I need help. Now."

"Maya? I thought you were working with Agent Kim on that small town story."

"That's the trouble. Agent Kim isn't who she says she is."

Silence on the other end. Then David's voice, sharp and serious: "What do you mean?"

Maya winced as she moved her hurt arm. "She's been giving me false information for months. Making me investigate the wrong people while the real crooks stayed hidden."

"That's impossible. Sarah Kim has been with the Bureau for eight years. I know her personally."

"David, listen to me carefully. Tonight, fake FBI agents tried to kill me in my office. They had a syringe with poison. The same drug they used on Thomas Morrison."

"Thomas Morrison... isn't he that lawyer in Millbrook?"

"Yes. And he's not just a victim. He's been working secretly for the FBI. But someone misled him."

Maya heard David typing on his computer. "Maya, I'm looking at our files right now. We don't have any undercover spies in Millbrook. And Agent Kim is showing as on leave this week."

Maya's heart stopped. "What?" "Agent Kim requested leave time three days ago. She said she was going to visit her sister in California."

"But she called me tonight. She told me about a plan to kill Thomas Morrison and his son Jake."

"Maya, that's impossible. If Kim is in California, then who—"

The phone line went dead.

Maya stared at the blank screen. Someone had cut the signal. They didn't want her talking to the real FBI.

A car door slammed outside. Maya crawled to the window and peeked through the colorful glass. Three black SUVs had parked around the church. Men in dark clothes got out, holding flashlights and guns.

Maya recognized one of them. Sheriff Dale Morrison. Jake's own cousin was helping hunt her down.

Her phone buzzed with a text message: "We know you're in there. Come out now and we'll make it quick."

Maya's hands trembled as she wrote back: "Who is this?"

The reply came instantly: "Your friend Agent Kim. We've been watching you for two years, Maya. Every story you wrote, every person you examined. We made sure you found exactly what we wanted you to find."

Maya felt sick. For two years, she thought she was investigating crime. Instead, she'd been playing right into their hands.

Another text appeared: "You're probably wondering how we knew about your real FBI contact. David Cruz is a good agent. It would be a shame if something happened to him."

Maya typed furiously: "Leave him alone! He doesn't know anything!"

"He knows enough. And now he knows about you. That makes him dangerous."

Maya recognized the horrible truth. By calling David, she hadn't gotten help. She'd put him in danger too.

The church door shook. Someone was trying to get in, but it was locked.

"Search around back," Dale Morrison's voice called out. "Check every window."

Maya crawled toward the altar, looking for another way out. The old church had been built over a hundred years ago. There had to be other routes.

Behind the altar, she found a small door marked "Basement." Maya tried the handle. Locked.

She heard footsteps on the church roof. They were coming from above too.

Maya's phone buzzed again: "You have thirty seconds to come out before we come in shooting. And Maya? Jake Morrison is walking into our trap at the hospital right now. If you don't surrender, we'll kill him first."

Maya's blood turned cold. Jake was in danger because of her. She'd tried to call him earlier to warn him, but the fake agents had taken her phone and used it to lure him.

Everything was connected. The fake Agent Kim. The poisoned father. Her probe. Jake's return to town.

They'd been planning this for a long time.

Glass shattered somewhere in the church. They were breaking in through the windows.

Maya pressed her back against the downstairs door and closed her eyes. She had to think. There had to be a way out.

Then she remembered something her grandmother had told her about this church. During the Underground Railroad, Saint Mary's had hidden runaway slaves in secret caves.

Maya felt around the door frame with her fingers. There. A free stone. She pressed it.

The basement door clicked open.

Maya slipped through just as flashlight beams swept across the altar where she'd been hiding.

The basement was pitch black, but Maya used her phone's light to see. Old wooden boxes and dirty furniture filled the space. But at the far end, behind a stack of hymnals, she saw another door.

Maya hurried toward it, trying to stay quiet. Her shoulder throbbed with every step.

The door was smaller than the others, almost like it was meant to be hidden. Maya pushed it open and found herself looking into a narrow tunnel.

The Underground Railroad tunnel. Just like her grandmother had said.

Maya crawled into the tunnel, pulling the door shut behind her. She could hear the fake agents searching the basement now.

"She's not down here," one of them called.

"Keep looking. Check every corner."

Maya crawled through the hole as fast as she could. Her damaged shoulder screamed with pain, but she didn't stop.

The tunnel seemed to go on forever. Finally, Maya saw light ahead. Another door.

She pushed it open and found herself in the basement of the old library across the street from the church.

Maya was free. For now.

She pulled out her phone to call Jake, but froze when she saw a new message waiting: "Very clever, Maya. But you're too late. Jake Morrison is already dead. And tomorrow, you'll be blamed for his death."

The message included a photo that made Maya's heart stop.

Jake, laying unconscious on a hospital floor, blood pooling around his head.

But then Maya noticed something in the background of the shot. A clock on the wall shows 11:47 PM.

Maya checked her phone. It was only 11:35 PM.

The picture was taken in the future. Which meant... It hadn't happened yet.