Chapter 15 · Nobody's Timer Anymore

"Say it," I said, and pressed harder into the wrap. Levi's jaw locked. His fingers dug into my wrist hard enough to bruise, and he still didn't let go.

"Ortega—"

"Zero," I said. "Clock hit zero. Door's still red. So say it."

He didn't. The intercom crackled instead, Renata's voice thinned out by the wall speaker, and I thought, here it comes, confiscate or tear, pick your poison. Except the voice that came through wasn't hers.

"This channel is now monitored by Commission Compliance." Flat. Recorded-sounding, even live. "Panel flagged twenty-two minutes ago has been mirrored to federal review. Local resolution is no longer available to either party."

Levi's hand went slack on my wrist for exactly one second. Then it clamped tighter.

"What the hell does that mean," he said, not to me, to the speaker, like it could hear tone.

I kept my palm flat on his ribs, right over the dressing, right over the panel folded inside it. My heart was doing something stupid and fast that had nothing to do with the wound under my hand.