Chapter 16 · Zero on the Clock

Kade's core was burning him alive.

Mara watched the countdown in the corner of her optic overlay. Four minutes. Seventeen seconds. The numbers dropped like they had somewhere to be.

She didn't look at him. She kept her eyes on the alley ahead, on the rust-slick fire escape they needed to hit before the drone swarm got a clean angle. Her jaw hurt from clenching. Her brother's face was still in her head. The file was still downloading. And Kade—Kade was the man who'd walked into her mother's lab and walked out alone.

"Left," he said. His voice was tight. "Through the laundry. They won't scan there."

She went left.

The laundry was all steam and ancient machines, the kind that still needed coins. The air smelled like hot lint and fake jasmine. Mara shoved through a rack of damp coveralls and kept moving. Behind her, Kade's breathing was wrong. Too shallow. Too fast.

"You good?" she asked. She didn't know why she asked.

"No."

Honest, at least.

She heard boots behind them. Two sets. Maybe three. The drone swarm was still outside, but Oryx had people on foot now.