Novels by Ash Fleming

Darkness swallowed everything. Emergency lights flickered on, casting blood red shadows across the command centre.Gunfire erupted. Not from the FBI agents, but at them. The operatives who had been guarding the room were not Marcus’s men. They were Catherine’s.Lex dove under the table, pulling Sophia with him. Around them, chaos exploded. Real FBI agents shouted commands. Fake agents returned fire. Bodies hit the floor.“This way!” Maya grabbed Lex’s arm, dragging him toward a side exit he had not noticed before.Mei covered their escape, her wounded shoulder forgotten as she fired with deadly precision. The twins moved as one unit, clearing a path.They burst through the door into another corridor. Behind them, the command centre had become a war zone.“How did you know?” Lex gasped, running beside Maya.“I did not. But when Daniel showed up, something felt wrong. Too convenient. Too perfect.” Maya took a corner hard. “Plus, I recognised one of the supposed FBI agents. He used to wo

Chapter Ten: The FacilityThe SUV descended into an underground parking structure beneath what looked like an abandoned factory. Concrete walls. Flickering lights. The smell of oil and rust.Lex counted exits as they drove deeper. Two ramps behind them. No other visible escape routes. The facility was designed to keep people in.They stopped in front of a reinforced steel door. Victor gestured with his gun. “Out.”Lex climbed out and saw the other SUVs arriving. Sophia emerged from one, her face pale but composed. Maya and Mei from the third, Mei’s shoulder wrapped in a crude bandage, blood seeping through.“Move,” Victor commanded.They were herded through the steel door into a corridor lit by harsh fluorescent strips. The walls were concrete, windowless. Every twenty feet, security cameras tracked their movement.“Where are we?” Sophia asked.“One of Mr. Kane’s private facilities. Used to be a munitions factory before the government shut it down thirty years ago. He bought it throug

The sedan tore through the city streets, Lex pushing the engine harder than it was meant to go. In the rearview mirror, headlights appeared and disappeared. Following. Always following.“We have a tail,” Mei said from the back seat. The window Maya, as Lex was now thinking of her.“I know.” Lex took a sharp right, tyres squealing. The headlights followed.“Two cars,” Maya corrected, the doorway twin. “Black SUVs. Marcus’s standard convoy formation.”Sophia clutched the USB drive like a lifeline. “How did they find us so fast?”“Tracker,” both twins said simultaneously.Lex cursed. “Where?”“Check under the seats,” Mei instructed. “Could be magnetic. Could be sewn into the upholstery.”Maya was already feeling along the floor. “Not here. Try the wheel wells from inside.”“We are driving seventy miles an hour through city streets,” Lex snapped. “I cannot exactly pull over and search.”“Then we need to ditch the car,” Sophia said. “Now.”Ahead, the highway entrance loomed. Lex made a dec

Two identical women faced each other across the small apartment. Same face. Same build. Same scar running from eyebrow to cheekbone.Lex’s gun swung between them, unable to determine which was the Maya he knew.“Lex, get away from Sophia,” the Maya in the doorway said. “That woman has been lying to you from the beginning.”“Listen to her and you die,” the Maya who came through the window replied. “She is the one working for Marcus Kane. I am trying to save you.”Sophia pressed herself against the wall, the USB drive clutched in her hand. “Lex, I do not know who either of them is.”“Shut up!” both Mayas shouted simultaneously.Lex kept his weapon steady, his mind racing through every interaction with Maya. Every conversation. Every warning. Looking for something that would identify which was real.“If you are the real Maya,” Lex said to the one in the doorway, “tell me what you said to me in the Sterling basement the night we escaped.”The doorway Maya did not hesitate. “I said your fa

Lex stared at Marcus Kane, the man who was supposed to be his captive father, standing free and smiling in the doorway of the safe house.“What is this?” Lex’s gun remained pointed at Maya, but his eyes locked onto Marcus. “You were supposed to be captured. The photo showed you tied up, bleeding.”“Movie magic, son. Daniel is excellent with makeup, and we have talented photographers on the team.” Marcus stepped inside, his guards fanning out behind him. “Lower your weapon. Maya is exactly who she says she is. Mostly.”“Mostly?” Lex’s finger tightened on the trigger.Maya slowly raised her hands. “Lex, let me explain.”“No.” Marcus’s voice cut through the tension like a blade. “I will explain. Maya, Daniel, leave us.”Daniel moved toward the door immediately. Maya hesitated, her eyes meeting Lex’s with something that looked like regret, then followed.The guards remained, weapons ready.“Alone means alone,” Lex said, his gun now shifting toward Marcus.Marcus smiled, genuinely amused.

Lex sprinted down the service corridor, Maya right behind him. Gunfire erupted. Bullets punched through drywall, spraying plaster dust.“Emergency exit, fifty meters ahead!” Maya shouted.Behind them, voices screamed. “Shooter in the building! Lock it down!”They burst through the exit door and into a concrete stairwell. Lex took the stairs three at a time, his injured ribs forgotten in the adrenaline surge.“Why did you shoot him?” Lex gasped between breaths.“He recognised you. He would have called Andrew. You would be dead in seconds.”They hit the ground floor. Maya kicked open the door to an underground parking garage. A black van waited with its engine running. They dove inside and the van screeched away before the door even closed.Daniel sat at the wheel, his face grim. “Please tell me you did not just assassinate Gerald Sterling.”“Of course we did not,” Maya snapped. “I did.”Inside the van, monitors displayed feeds from the surveillance devices still active in the dining ro