They sent him the mission details folded into a slip of paper.
Old-school. Ink. Smudged like someone had folded it with gloves on.
Report to the upper sector seven. Rooftop. 0600. Shadow team escort. Do not speak unless spoken to.
He flipped it over.
Nothing on the back.
Not even his name.
Cold sky.Dead air.Not a bird in sight.
Jessy stood on the roof of a half-abandoned telecom tower, breath fogging against the metal railing.
She was already there.
Tala.
She didn't wear a rank on her collar. No number. No visible weapons.Just a matte black coat, laced boots, and hair tied back in a knot that didn't shift in the wind.
She stood on the far edge of the roof, hands behind her back, staring at the sunrise like she didn't believe it was real.
Jessy waited.
She didn't turn.
Not even after the rooftop door groaned shut behind him.
He spoke first.
"You're the handler?"
Still, she didn't turn.
"You're the ghost."
Her voice was quiet.
Sharp. Not soft.
Like a blade left out in the rain too long.
Jessy stepped beside her.
Not too close. Just enough.
Her face didn't flicker with expression. Still. Studying the city like it had something to confess.
"You always this warm?"
"You always this loud?"
He smirked. "So it's a yes."
"You're not what I expected."
"Let me guess. Taller?"
"Less awake."
Jessy fell silent. The wind filled the space where a reply might've gone.
They stood there a while.
Minutes passed.
Tala finally blinked.
"You know why they paired us?"
Jessy shrugged. "Someone upstairs flipped a coin?"
"You're new. You're loud. And you beat someone who was never supposed to lose."
"I'm here to watch you."
Jessy turned. "I thought this was a mission."
"It is."
"Then why does it feel like a test?"
Tala met his eyes for the first time.
And smiled. Just barely.
"Because it is."
They moved together.
Silent rooftops. Cable bridges. Dead antennae fields.
Their target was a man with three identities and no loyalties. Courier. Leaker. Informant. None of it mattered.
All Jessy knew was that they were supposed to follow him.
Do not engage. Do not be seen. Learn his route.
It was recon. That's it.
Simple.
But nothing about Tala felt simple.
She didn't talk while they moved.Didn't breathe heavy.Didn't ask questions.
She observed. Without blinking. Without notes.
At one point, she pressed a finger to Jessy's shoulder and pointed — just once — and he dropped without needing to be told why.
Instinct.
Discipline.
Or something colder.
The target passed.
Tala followed him with her eyes like someone memorizing a song just by hearing it once.
Jessy watched her instead.
The way she moved.
The way she didn't seem to exist unless the job needed her.
She didn't feel like someone trained.
She felt like someone built.
***
They sat behind a collapsed vent duct, watching the man speak to a black van.
Jessy leaned against the wall. Dust in his hair. Back stiff from staying low too long.
Tala didn't move.
He finally asked it.
"Why me?"
She didn't answer.
"You know something."
Still nothing.
He tried again.
"You've heard the name Mirage?"
She turned slowly.
"You don't stop, do you?"
"I like knowing where I come from."
"You think a name will give you that?"
"Maybe."
She looked away.
"Mirage was before my time."
"But?"
"But people still don't say the name out loud."
"Why?"
She turned back to him.
Voice flat.
"Because some ghosts don't fade. They wait."
Jessy looked at the van.
Watched the man disappear behind tinted glass.
He felt her watching him now.
Studying.
Measuring.
He hated it.
"You don't breathe like the others."
She blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Back there. No sound. No shift. Like you were waiting to stop existing."
She smiled, barely.
"You noticed that?"
"I notice everything."
"Then stop noticing me."
"Can't. I'm being trained."
"No. You're being warned."
***
The job ended.
No gunfire. No chase. Just coordinates logged, voices recorded, and a silent departure.
Back on the roof, Tala crouched by the exit hatch.
Jessy didn't follow her down yet.
She looked back up at him.
"You did well."
"That sounds dangerously close to a compliment."
"Don't get used to it."
"Did I pass your test?"
"No one passes."
"Then why tell me I did well?"
"So you'll remember the difference."
She turned to descend.
He called after her.
"Who's Valera?"
Tala froze.
Only a second.
But long enough.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"A note."
"From who?"
"Someone who isn't supposed to exist."
She didn't look back.
"Forget her."
"I don't like forgetting things."
"Then remember this"
She looked at him, eyes colder than the roof beneath their boots.
"If you chase ghosts too long, you start hearing your own name in the dark."
Then she was gone.