Chapter 32 · Sixty Seconds in a Cage

The cage smells like burnt plastic and old blood. Mara's boots scrape rust as Silas shoves Kade inside, hands still zip-tied behind his back. The reactor hums three feet away, a dull green column of heat that makes her skin prickle even through her jacket.

Kade doesn't fight. He just turns, slow, and meets her eyes through the bars.

Silas steps back, one hand on the remote clipped to his belt. "Simple trade, Dr. Vey. His core powers the camp grid for sixty seconds. If it syncs clean, your brother walks. If it doesn't—" He shrugs. "Well. You've seen what happens when a collar pops."

Mara's brother is ten feet to her left, kneeling in the dirt with two guards standing over him. His collar blinks red. She can see the charge building in the seam, the way his jaw locks every time it ticks.

She wants to scream. Wants to rip the remote out of Silas's hand and jam it down his throat until he chokes.

Instead she says, "You're lying."

Silas smiles. It's the kind of smile that belongs in a boardroom, not a work camp where the air tastes like diesel and desperation. "I don't lie, Dr.