Chapter 24 · The Door at Zero

"You sent me."

Iris doesn't move. Her back is against the wall panel, the glow from the half-exposed circuitry painting her face green. I can see the hitch in her breath before she answers.

"Yes."

One word. That's all it takes to rip the ground out from under me.

"Say it again."

"I sent you," she says. Her voice is steady now, no shake, no apology. "I signed the authorization. I picked your team. I put you in that valley."

I should move. Should push off the doorframe, get to the panel, finish what we came here to do. But my boots are lead and my hands are buzzing and all I can see is Noah's face when the chopper lifted without him.

"Why?"

"Because you were the best." She doesn't flinch. "Because if anyone could pull it off, it was you. And because—" She cuts herself off, jaw tight.

"Because what?"

"Because I didn't know he'd rig the evac."

That stops me cold.

"What?"

"Noah." She pushes off the wall, one step closer. Her eyes are dark, pupils blown wide in the dim light. "He filed the mission request. He wrote the parameters.