Chapter 16 · Don't Get in the Car

Ryan's hand was still shaking when he pulled the access card out of Natasha's pocket. She didn't stop him. Didn't even look at him. Just kept staring at the screen where his body jerked and spasmed in a loop, the audio cutting in and out with every labeled spike.

He shoved the card in his jacket and turned for the door.

"Ryan."

He stopped. Didn't turn around.

"You go out there and they'll know you took it," Natasha said. Her voice was flat. Clinical. Like she was reading off a chart. "The second you swipe that card anywhere in the system, it pings back here. You think Erica's the only one with ears in this building?"

Ryan looked back. Natasha was standing now, arms folded, her face unreadable in the blue glow of the monitors. Behind her, his own face filled the center screen, mouth open in a scream he didn't remember making.

"Then what's the point?" he said.

"The point is you don't use it here." She walked over to the wall panel and pulled up a schematic. Power grid. The whole block, color-coded by load. Red meant maxed out. Yellow meant close. Green meant off.