I noticed him the second I boarded—the cowboy hat, the broad shoulders, the kind of face that made you sit up straighter.

He kept looking at me the way someone studies a painting: quiet, intense. When turbulence hit, he stood beside me and said, low and calm, “You shouldn’t be worried about the bumps.” My heart did a stupid little jump. “Why not?” I asked. He glanced away and murmured, “Because that’s not what you should be worried about.”

Then he flashed a badge. “I didn’t come on this flight by accident,” he said. “I’m watching someone.” My breath stalled. Before I could ask more, the lights flickered, a scream, and Maddox was already moving—calm, fast—toward the back. I watched him pin a struggling man in a blue jacket to the exit row. Chaos erupted; a small silver device rolled to my foot and blinked.

I picked it up. Maddox barked, “Don’t touch that!” Too late. The blinking died and his face went hard. “It’s not a bomb,” he said, “but it’s data. If someone on the ground thinks we stopped him, they’ll try to finish it.” The pilot announced an emergency landing; black SUVs swarmed the tarmac. When doors opened, bullets and shouting replaced polite turbulence. Maddox shoved me into an SUV. We escaped under a hail of orders and glass.

Inside a safe room, agents decrypted the drive. “They know your face now,” Maddox said. “We can’t let you go home.” He offered me two impossible choices: witness protection—or join them. I laughed then, half from terror, half from adrenaline. “A spy?” I repeated.

Three months later I was in Arizona at a remote training site. My old life erased for my safety, replaced by drills and briefings and a fierce new purpose. Maddox still watched me—same intense look—but now I watched back.