Chapter 17 · Blackout Ledger - Chapter 17: Kill the Warden

"You're going to fry the entire panel." Kael's hand closed over mine before I could jam the wire into the third port.

I jerked back. "Then you do it."

"I don't have the access code."

"Neither do I." I shoved the wire at his chest. "The chip does. And right now it's telling me your face is worth six hundred thousand credits and my brother's location is slot B-7 in the sublevel medical archive."

His jaw tightened. "It said that?"

"It's saying it now." I pressed my wrist. The interface flickered, pale green text crawling up my forearm. "It wants me to break the lock. It also wants me to trade Jon's coordinates for a contract unlock."

Kael took the wire. Didn't look at me. "What did you tell it?"

"I told it to go to hell."

He almost smiled. "That work?"

"Not even a little."

The panel in front of us was older than both of us combined, rusted edges and a cracked display that still somehow held the entire sublevel lockdown protocol. We'd been down here forty minutes. The air smelled like burnt plastic and old blood.