Chapter 11 · Overclocked Requiem

“Don’t let go.”

Valerie’s hand locked around Jesse’s wrist as the elevator cable snapped above them.

The car dropped.

Metal screamed. Jax yelled something that got swallowed by the shaft, and Jesse’s boots lost the floor. His deck flashed under his skin, hot cards crawling along his arm like trapped sparks.

“Little late for instructions,” Jesse shouted.

“Then stop talking and listen.” Valerie pulled him hard against her. Her shoulder hit his chest. Her coat scraped his jaw. “Three levels down. Open shaft. We jump.”

“Jump where?”

“On my mark.”

“You’re blind.”

“I’m aware.”

The elevator plunged through darkness. Jesse felt the pressure change in his ears. He couldn’t see the shaft, couldn’t see the cables whipping past, couldn’t see the hit squad waiting somewhere above with corporate rifles and execution cards.

He could hear them.

Boots on the emergency stairs. Commands. The sharp click of a card being armed.

Valerie’s breath brushed his throat. Steady. Too steady for a woman falling through a building in a broken elevator.

“You brought us into the shaft,” he said.

“You broke the elevator.”

“You shot the control panel.”

“You were about to get us killed.”

“Still am.”

“Good. Stay focused.