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"Say the order," Valerie said, pressing the pistol harder against Jesse's forehead. "Who told you to die?"
Jesse tasted blood and rust. Somewhere above them, boots pounded across the sewer grate. The sound multiplied through the pipes until it seemed like half the city was hunting them.
"Take the gun off me and I might remember."
"You remember everything. Your deck just showed me the command." Her finger tightened near the trigger. "Say the name."
"You're really going to shoot the only man who can unlock your father's memory card?"
"I can shoot your knee. Then I can drag you to an interrogation room."
"Cute plan." Jesse tried to push himself up. His left side folded before his hand could reach the wall. "Problem is, your friends upstairs are here to kill both of us."
The steel door at the end of the maintenance tunnel shook under a heavy impact.
Valerie's eyes cut toward it. Her gun did not move.
Another hit slammed through the tunnel. Dust fell from the ceiling and dotted her black coat.
"How many?" she asked.
"Enough."
"That's not a number."
"Eight on the first sweep. Maybe twelve behind them. They brought breach hounds."
"You can hear that through three feet of concrete?"
"I can hear the cards in their collars." Jesse gave her a crooked smile. "Your people like expensive toys."
The Wraith Deck pulsed against his ribs. Every pulse dragged a fresh line of pain through his chest. His soul meter had dropped to zero minutes ago, but the deck kept moving anyway, feeding on something that felt too close to his bones.
Valerie noticed the way his fingers shook.
"You are bleeding through the jacket."
"And you're staring."
"I'm checking whether you can stand."
"Sure. Keep telling yourself that."
She grabbed the front of his coat and hauled him upright. Her shoulder hit the wall. Jesse landed against her, trapped between the stone and her body. Her palm was warm through his shirt. His breath caught near her ear.
The pistol stayed under his jaw.
"Don't confuse proximity with trust," she said.
"I don't trust you at all."
"Good. Then this will be simple. You unlock the memory card. I get the evidence. After that, I put a round through you."
"You forgot the part where we live long enough to reach after that."
The door boomed again.
A low metallic growl answered from the other side. The hounds had found the lock.
Valerie's gaze sharpened. "There is another exit."
"There was. The floodgate collapsed when we dropped in."
"You knew that and still came down here?"
"I was busy stopping you from getting cut in half."
For half a second, her mouth tightened.
Jesse saw it. The little pause. The thing she refused to say.
"You should thank me," he said.
"I should let you bleed out."
"That too. But you won't."
She shoved him harder against the wall. Her face was close enough for him to feel each controlled breath against his cheek.
"You don't know what I'll do."
"I know the tether." Jesse lifted his blood-slick hand between them. A thin black thread of light ran from his palm to hers. "Thirty feet. If I die, you burn with the deck. If you run, it drags you back. If either of us tries to break it, the other gets the pain first."
"I know what the contract does."
"Then you know you need me."
"I need the card. Not you."
"The card is locked to me. So right now, that's the same thing."
A red symbol flickered across the deck's surface.
[RESONANCE TETHER: UNSTABLE] [SOUL RESERVE: 0] [FAILURE WINDOW: 04:12] [CONDITION: BOTH HOSTS MUST REMAIN ALIVE]
Valerie read the display. Her face went still.
"Four minutes?"
"The deck is being generous."
"What happens at zero?"
"You don't want to find out."
"I asked what happens."
Jesse swallowed against the gun beneath his chin. "It strips the tether out through both nervous systems."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning you scream. I stop. You keep screaming."
Her stare dropped to his mouth, then snapped back to his eyes.
"You enjoy this."
"I enjoy not dying. There's a difference."
The hound outside slammed into the steel again. The lock bent inward with a sharp crack.
Valerie stepped away and aimed at the door. Jesse nearly fell without her support. He caught the wall with one hand and held the other against his ribs.
"How do we get out?" she asked.
"There is a service shaft behind the old pump room."
"And?"
"And it only opens with a Wraith key."
"You have one?"
"Not anymore."
"You lost it?"
"I used it to keep you alive."
"Stop making that sound noble. You saved me because you needed a partner for the tether."
Jesse pushed off the wall. His knees wobbled, but he kept moving. "I saved you because if they killed you, the deck would rip me apart. Both things can be true."
Valerie followed, keeping the pistol trained on him. They crossed the narrow tunnel shoulder to shoulder. Every few steps, the tether pulled at their hands, forcing their fingers closer before snapping them apart.
"Your heart rate is climbing," she said.
"You're welcome to count it."
"If you collapse, I leave you."
"No, you don't."
"Try me."
"You can't get more than thirty feet away."
"I can drag you."
"You can try."
She caught his wrist and yanked him around. His back hit the brickwork. Her body blocked the only route forward. The gun slipped from his forehead to his chest.
"You keep challenging me," she said. "That is a bad habit for a man with no soul reserve."
"You keep touching me," Jesse said. "That is a worse habit for an auditor who claims she wants me dead."
Her jaw flexed.
The space between them shrank to a few inches. Jesse felt the heat of her hand through his sleeve. Her glove was gone now, left behind when the deck forced the contract through their palms. A faint silver mark circled her wrist. It matched the one burning under his skin.
"Tell me the order," she whispered. "Give me one reason not to put you down before the door opens."
"Because the order came from inside the High Board."
"I already know that."
"No, you don't. You know someone signed it. You don't know the command was tagged with your father's clearance code."
The pistol pressed harder.
"You're lying."
"Then unlock the card and prove me wrong."
"You can't unlock it."
"Not alone."
The deck flashed between them. Two empty card slots appeared beneath the locked memory card.
[RESONANCE TRIGGER REQUIRED] [SECOND HOST: VALERIE VOSS] [PAYMENT: BLOOD MEMORY] [WARNING: MEMORY LOSS MAY INCLUDE PERSONAL IDENTITY MARKERS]
Valerie's eyes narrowed. "Blood memory?"
"The deck wants a memory from you."
"What kind?"
"Important enough to hurt."
"And what does it take from you?"
"It already took my soul reserve."
"That wasn't the question."
Jesse looked at the card. "If we unlock it, the deck eats the strongest memory tied to the evidence. From you, it could be your father's face. His voice. The reason you started hunting me."
Her expression cracked for the smallest instant.
Jesse saw the fear before she buried it.
"You knew," she said.
"I guessed."
"You were going to use me anyway."
"I am using you. You are using me. That's what a deal is."
"That isn't a deal. It's blackmail."
"Then call it what it is and put your hand on the card."
The steel door groaned. A red targeting beam slid under the gap and crossed Jesse's boots.
Valerie turned, saw it, and grabbed his collar.
"Move."
"Where?"
She dragged him toward a side alcove and shoved him behind a broken filtration tank. Then she crouched in front of him, her knee braced against his thigh to keep him upright.
"Stay down."
"You worried about me?"
"I need you conscious."
"Still counts."
"Keep talking and I will make you unconscious."
The hounds barked outside. The sound punched through Jesse's skull. His deck answered with a dark flare, and the targeting beam vanished.
Valerie stared at him. "What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"Your deck just jammed their sightline."
"Then thank it."
"It is eating your body."
"I noticed."
She looked down at his hand. Black veins of aether crawled from his palm toward his wrist. Her fingers hovered over them, not quite touching.
"How long?"
"Less than four minutes now."
"Before you die?"
"Before the tether fails. Maybe both."
"You are remarkably calm."
"I am not calm. I am busy being charming."
Her fingertips touched the edge of the mark on his wrist.
Pain shot through him. So did something else—a warm rush that did not belong to him. He felt her pulse. Fast. Controlled. Angry.
Valerie pulled back.
"Don't do that again."
"You touched me."
"I was checking the mark."
"With your bare hand?"
"Do you want to argue while people shoot through the door?"
"Honestly? It's the best part of my night."
A voice shouted from the other side.
"Jesse Vance! By order of the High Board, drop the deck and surrender! Auditor Voss, step away from the target!"
Valerie's eyes turned cold.
"They know I'm here."
"They watched us fall."
"They want the deck."
"And they want you dead before you can read your father's memory."
She pointed the pistol at the ceiling and fired. The blast cracked through the tunnel. The speaker outside went silent.
Jesse flinched. "Subtle."
"I am done being subtle."
She grabbed the card hovering over his palm.
The deck snapped around her wrist. Black light climbed her arm. Jesse felt the tether pull them together so hard his shoulder struck hers.
"Say the terms," she demanded.
"You want the evidence. I want an exit."
"And the cost?"
"One memory from you. One card from me. No betrayal while the tether holds."
"That last part is vague."
"Then make it simple. If either of us knowingly leads the hunters to the other, the deck takes the traitor's life first."
"You built that into the contract?"
"The deck did. I just read the fine print."
"And when it ends?"
"We walk away."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No. I expect you to believe the gunfire."
A bullet tore through the filtration tank. Metal screamed beside Jesse's head.
Valerie shoved him flat and covered him with her body as another round punched through the brick.
Her chest pressed against his. Her hair brushed his cheek. Jesse could feel the quick beat of her heart through two layers of cloth.
"If you mention this later," she whispered, "I will shoot you myself."
"You are very protective for someone planning to kill me."
"I am protecting my evidence."
"Right. Your evidence has a pulse."
Her eyes locked on his. For one dangerous second, neither of them moved.
Then she slapped her palm onto the hovering card.
"I accept."
The deck bit into both their hands.
Jesse shouted as heat ripped up his arm. Valerie's breath broke, but she did not pull away. A thin line of red appeared across her palm and ran into the card's black surface.
[DUAL CONTRACT ACCEPTED] [HOST A: JESSE VANCE] [HOST B: VALERIE VOSS] [FAILURE CONDITION: BETRAYAL / SEPARATION / DEATH] [MEMORY PAYMENT: SELECTED]
Valerie jerked. Her eyes went wide.
"What did it take?" Jesse asked.
She stared at him, pale and furious. "Your name."
"My name?"
"The first time my father said it. I can't remember it anymore."
The memory card unlocked with a wet click.
Jesse reached for it, but the deck threw a warning across his vision.
[ACCESS DENIED] [HOST A MUST PROVIDE BLOOD AUTHORIZATION]
"Of course," Jesse muttered.
Valerie's pistol lifted again. "What now?"
"Now you give me a reason to stay alive."
"You have an entire execution squad outside."
"That's not a reason. That's a scheduling problem."
She grabbed his hand and pressed his bleeding palm against the card.
"Unlock it."
"You sure? It may take another memory."
"Take yours first."
"Mine are already damaged."
"Then you can afford one more."
Jesse grinned despite the pain. "There she is."
He drove his palm into the card.
The tunnel vanished behind a blast of white static. A man's voice filled his head, low and distorted.
"Protocol Voss. Remove the enforcer. Recover the Wraith core. If Auditor Voss interferes, mark her as compromised. No tribunal. No record."
Valerie's face went rigid.
"That's Director Halden," she said.
"You recognize him."
"Shut up."
The voice continued.
"The girl's condition is irrelevant. The Sanctuary transfer remains sealed until the auction."
Jesse's blood went cold.
The memory cut out before the girl's name came through.
Valerie ripped her hand away. "What girl?"
Jesse caught her wrist. "You heard it."
"What girl?"
"You know exactly who."
Her pistol jammed against his ribs. "Say her name."
"Not here."
"Say it."
"Your people are breaking in."
"Say it, Jesse!"
The main lock snapped.
Both of them turned.
The door bent inward, but held.
Jesse shoved the unlocked card into his coat. The deck flashed again, faster now.
[NEW OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE CITYWIDE PURSUIT] [TARGETS: JESSE VANCE / VALERIE VOSS] [BOUNTY STATUS: ACTIVE] [REWARD: SANCTUARY CARD—TRANSFER PENDING]
Valerie saw the words over his shoulder.
"Sanctuary," she said. "That's what they meant."
"It can heal my sister."
"You have a sister?"
"I did not have time to put it on my résumé."
The door exploded inward.
Jax Novak kicked through the smoke with a shotgun in one hand and a glowing card in the other.
"Move, you idiots!" he yelled. "The whole damn block is crawling with Board hounds!"
Valerie raised her gun at him. "Identify yourself."
"Ask later! Shoot now!"
A hound lunged through the broken doorway. Valerie fired. Jesse threw up his arm. The Wraith Deck caught the impact and spat the force sideways, blasting the creature into the wall.
Jax stared at the deck. "Oh, you actually bonded it. That's bad. That's really—"
"Jax," Jesse rasped. "The shaft."
"Sealed."
"Then open it."
"With what? Your soul is empty."
"You brought something."
Jax's grin vanished. He spun toward the old weapon locker and fired twice into the rusted latch. The locker door flew open.
Inside, cards hung from copper hooks like loaded guns.
Jax reached past a row of cracked fire cards and pulled out one that shook in his grip. Its edges glitched between red and black.
"No," Valerie said. "That card is unstable."
"So is he. They can keep each other company."
Jax crossed the tunnel and slammed the card into Jesse's hand.
Pain ripped up Jesse's arm. The deck screamed inside his skull.
[OVERCLOCKED GLITCH CARD DETECTED] [COMPATIBILITY: 11%] [FAILURE: CATASTROPHIC]
Valerie grabbed Jesse's coat. "Take it out."
"Can't."
"Then cut his hand off."
"You heard the card," Jax shouted. "It is already inside the slot!"
The steel door blew inward.
Jax threw himself behind the filtration tank as armed figures filled the breach. Red sights snapped onto Jesse's chest.
He tried to raise the glitch card. His fingers locked around it, but the deck dragged his hand toward the empty slot beneath his ribs.
Valerie seized his wrist. Her face was inches from his, her breath hot against his cheek.
"Jesse, if that card fails—"
"I know."
Jax leaned out from cover and screamed, "Slot the damn card or we're all paste!"