Chapter 19 · The Man in the Footage

"You signed the extraction order." Iris says it flat, standing three feet from me in the corridor. Her voice doesn't shake. "Seven years ago. Your signature. Your authority."

"I didn't."

"Then why does the core say you did?"

I don't answer. The wrist counter reads 3. Three deaths left. The hallway stretches ahead, emergency lighting striping the walls red and white. Somewhere past that junction, Noah's waiting with enough firepower to turn this floor into a kill box.

"Cade." She steps closer. "I need to know if you remember signing it."

"I remember Prague. I remember the embassy burning. I don't remember paperwork."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I've got."

She holds my gaze. Her jaw's tight, pupils wide. She's running the same math I am—three loops, maybe thirty minutes of real time per loop if we're lucky, and Noah's got the high ground.

"He's going to kill you the second you step into that corridor," she says.

"He's going to try."

"He's got a railgun mounted at the north junction. I saw the setup two loops ago. You didn't. You died in the stairwell before you got line of sight."

I remember. Chest shot. No warning.