Chapter 24 · The Dead Don't Call

The distress code is still pulsing when I hit the corridor at a dead run.

Grimm's yelling something behind me but I don't stop. Mom's code. Ten years dead and her code just went live. The map on my wrist burns red with every heartbeat.

I should wait. I should let Grimm catch up, let Dax sweep ahead with his fancy enhancement reflexes. I should do a lot of things.

I don't.

The facility corridor is colder than the rest of the compound. My breath comes out in clouds. Emergency lighting flickers overhead, red then dark then red again. The kind of lighting that makes everything look like a crime scene.

Maybe it is.

"Rona!" Grimm's boots hammer the floor behind me. "Rona, stop!"

I round the corner and nearly slam into a door. Heavy. Reinforced. The kind that says nobody leaves without permission. The panel beside it is dark except for one blinking yellow light.

Mom's code is coming from past this door.

I slap my palm against the panel. Nothing. Try my wrist comm. The panel stays dark.

"Move." Grimm catches up, breathing hard. He reaches for the panel.

I block him. "She's your wife."

"She's dead.