Code Name: Untraceable

Chapter Ten: Don't Follow Ghosts

Frankie didn't answer.

Not at first.

Her eyes moved across the team-Yelena, Ava, John, Alexei, Bucky, Bob. All of them watching her now. No more illusions. No more guesses.

Just her.

Alive.

Real.

And caught.

"You want answers?" she asked softly, voice like gravel over glass. "You sure about that?"

Yelena stepped forward. "We've had your back three missions in a row. You've had ours. We deserve something."

John raised his hands. "Yeah, and maybe start with: why the hell does Val think you're dead?"

Frankie smirked. "Because I'm better at staying dead than she is at controlling the living."

Ava narrowed her eyes. "You used to work for her."

Frankie didn't deny it.

Didn't flinch.

Just stared right back.

"I was her ghost. Her cleaner. Her weapon. Until I decided I wasn't hers anymore."

A beat.

Then she moved.

Fast.

Darting sideways, cutting the angle, sprinting like the devil was at her back.

"GO!" Bucky shouted, lunging.

Yelena flipped over a crate to cut her off.

Ava slid to block the corridor.

John vaulted up high.

They were trying to surround her-but Frankie was already pivoting.

She turned-

Right toward Bob.

Wide-eyed. Frozen.

She ran straight past him-but not before her hand reached out.

Fingers brushed his shoulder. A firm touch. Brief.

It said everything she couldn't:

I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Don't stop me.

And he didn't.

She vanished through the doorway before anyone could grab her.

By the time they reached the corridor-

She was gone.

Again.

All that remained was the echo of her boots on metal, a half-second of contact, and a hundred more questions no one could answer.