Chapter 14 · The Trigger

"Step back from the console." Drake's voice crackled through the overhead speaker before my fingers touched the panel.

I froze with my hand inches from the controls. The holding cage hummed in front of me, Jude still locked inside it, his wrists cuffed to the retention bar.

His head lifted. His eyes found mine through the bars.

"Captain Vane," Drake said. "I gave you an order."

"Yeah, I heard you." I kept my hand where it was. "Where's Platform Zero?"

Silence answered me.

Then Drake said, "Classified."

"That word's getting lazy." I glanced at the camera in the corner. "The blast was classified. The detention logs are classified. Jude being dragged through the same reset thirteen times is classified, too?"

Jude's mouth twitched. "Thirteen."

"Shut up."

"You keep losing count."

"Drake, give me access to the logs."

"Mercer stays in that cage until I authorize his transfer." Her voice sharpened. "Open that door, and you'll take the cell beside him."

I looked at Jude's wrists. The cuffs had cut through his skin. Dried blood marked the metal.

He'd been here before. Not in a nightmare.