Chapter 6 · Same Kill Pattern

"They're still behind us."

Kael's voice came rough. Blood soaked through his shirt, black under the dashboard lights. Sienna kept her foot down, the stolen sedan screaming through switchbacks she barely remembered from childhood.

"How many?"

"Two vehicles. Maybe six shooters total." He twisted to look back, hissed through his teeth. "They're not trying to box us in. They're herding."

"Herding where?"

"Somewhere quiet. Somewhere they can clean up after."

Sienna's knuckles went white on the wheel. The USB drive burned in her pocket like a live coal. Her mother's voice, still on that recording, still saying her name. Asher's access log, three days before the fire. Before everything.

"The next junction," Kael said. "Go left."

"That's a dead end. It loops back to—"

"I know where it goes. Trust me or don't, but decide fast."

She yanked the wheel left. The tires screamed. Behind them, headlights swerved, closed the gap. Sienna's heartbeat spiked, and with it came the pull—the goddamn moonbond like a fist around her ribs, dragging her attention toward him even now.

"You're losing blood," she said.

"I'm fine."

"You're not. I can smell it."

"Then drive faster."

The road narrowed.