Chapter 22 · Borrowed Rings, Loaded Guns

The message sat on Mara's terminal like a grenade with the pin half-pulled.

Juno's voice came through crackling, low and fast. "The invite updated. Don't know how. Don't know who. But the name on your pass isn't the fake anymore. It's you. Mara Vey. Your real ID."

Mara stared at the screen. Her pulse hammered in her ears. Kade stood behind her, close enough she could feel the heat off his shoulder.

"It's a trap," he said.

"Yeah." She didn't look at him. "But Eli's still in there."

Kade's jaw worked. The glow from his chest core pulsed faint through his shirt, counting down something neither of them could stop. Six hours. Maybe less now.

"They want me," he said. "They're using your brother to get me. If we walk in under your real name, they'll be waiting."

Mara pushed back from the terminal and stood. Her clinic felt smaller than usual, the walls too close, the air too thin. She crossed to the steel locker in the corner and yanked it open. Inside hung two sets of clothes Juno had dropped off an hour ago. Upper-city formal.