Chapter 14 · Blood in the Gutter

"Get off him!" Valerie drove her shoulder into the soldier's side, but the cyborg barely moved.

Jesse's back slammed against the sewer wall. Metal fingers closed around his throat and lifted him until his boots scraped uselessly over the concrete.

"Valerie," he rasped.

"I see him!" She jammed the stolen pistol under the soldier's jaw. "Let him go, or I turn your head into scrap."

The soldier's red eyes slid toward her. Black veins crawled beneath the synthetic skin of his neck. His face looked almost human, which made the flat smile worse.

"You still give orders," he said. His voice came through a damaged speaker, two tones fighting over every word. "Even after tearing off your crown."

"I can still pull a trigger."

"Not while he's inside your tether."

Valerie's finger tightened.

Jesse saw the tiny pause. Saw the soldier see it too.

"Don't shoot," Jesse forced out.

"You want to die quietly?"

"No. I want you to stop aiming at my head."

The soldier squeezed.

Pain flashed across Jesse's throat. His vision pinched at the edges.