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"Dad!" Mika threw herself at the half-open door, palms flat against the cold steel. She shoved until her shoulders burned, but the door only shrieked and stuttered in its frame.
Inside, a man's eyes opened. White hair clung to his forehead in wet strings. He was strapped to a chair bolted to the floor, tubes running from both wrists as if he were the thing being drained instead of feeding something else.
His cracked mouth moved. "Don't touch her."
Cade went still behind Mika. "What?"
"She's the second Anchor." Her father's eyes locked on Mika's face, and something in them broke wide open. "Mika. Baby, look at me."
The alarms detonated through the corridor. Red light strobed across the walls.
Anna's smooth voice dropped from hidden speakers. "You're not getting out. The door jammed on purpose. Security's coming down to collect you personally."
"Cade." Mika didn't look away from her father. "Get it open."
"I'm working on it—"
"Get it open."
He swore, braced his shoulder against the gap, and shoved. Metal groaned. The door bent another six inches—enough for Mika to force her arm through to the elbow.
Her fingers found her father's wrist. Cold. Papery. His pulse jumped beneath her touch, fast and thin.
"Listen to me." He caught her hand with strength his body shouldn't have had left. His grip shook as he dragged her palm up to his throat. "You have to do it. Now. Before they get down here."
Mika's whole body locked. "Do what?"
"Kill me."
Behind her, Cade stopped pushing.
Mika stared at her father. "You're insane. I didn't spend three years looking for you so I could put you in the ground myself."
"You didn't spend three years looking for a version of me they could turn into a weapon." His fingers tightened around hers. "That's not saving me. That's not saving anyone."
"No." She tried to pull back. He held on, tears shining in eyes she'd never seen afraid—not when Mom didn't come home, not ever.
"They bonded me to something down here." His voice cracked. "Something they're still building. If I'm alive past tonight, they can use me to find every Bonded pair in this city and burn them out one at a time. You. Cade. Everyone."
Boots struck the floor at the far end of the corridor. Three sets. Closing fast.
"Please." The word scraped out of him. "Don't let them use me."
"I'm not killing you." Mika's voice broke. "I just got you back."
Cade's hand closed around her arm and pulled her from the door. "We're out of time."
"Let go of me!"
"He doesn't die tonight because you froze." Cade's face was tight, scared for her instead of smug. "We get him out. Both of us."
"You heard him! If he's alive, they'll use him to hunt—"
"Then we don't give them the chance."
Cade shoved past her and hit the door again. The frame screamed. Another section buckled.
Anna's voice sharpened over the speakers. "Cade. Step away from the pod. That's a direct order from your Handler, and you know what happens if you don't."
"Cut the feed, Anna." He drove his shoulder into the metal. "I'm not asking twice."
The alarm pitch climbed, counting down instead of warning them.
Her father's grip tightened around Mika's wrist. "If you won't do it, I'll find a way myself."
"Don't you dare."
Three guards rounded the corner, rifles raised.
Cade tore the door the rest of the way open with both hands and stepped between Mika and the muzzles. The pod released with a violent clank. Her father's restraints stayed locked.
"Go!" he shouted. "Both of you. Now!"
"I'm not leaving you strapped to a chair!"
Cade hooked an arm around Mika's waist and hauled her off her feet before she could finish. His forearm crushed against her ribs. His heartbeat slammed against her back once, hard and hot, before he threw her toward the tunnel behind them.
The corridor exploded.
Concrete burst outward. Heat rolled through the passage. Mika hit the ground, palms scraping raw, while Cade's fist punched through the wall beside her.
"Move!" he barked.
He shoved her into the narrow service tunnel and dove after her. Orange light chased them through the smoke.
Mika barely got to her knees before someone stepped out of the darkness ahead, blocking the only exit.
Ethan Gray stood in the center of the tunnel. His academy blazer was scorched black at one shoulder. The edges of his hair were singed, but his hand stayed steady.
He held a black key at chest height—the same kind that had opened her father's file drawer. It wasn't inserted into anything. He aimed it at them like a weapon.
"Ethan?" Cade's voice went flat. He moved in front of Mika without looking back.
Ethan didn't lower the key. His face held no anger. Only the awful, careful regret that came before a choice nobody could undo.
"I'm sorry," he said. "That key doesn't open the door. It opens the bond."
Mika's scraped palm pressed against the tunnel floor. "What did you do?"
Ethan's thumb shifted over the key. Behind them, the fire roared closer.
"I can sever your father's link," he said, "or I can sever yours. Which one do you want me to—"