Chapter 20 · The Fourteenth Copy

"Thirteen subjects." I kept the gun trained on Jude. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means Drake burned through thirteen versions before you."

"You're lying."

"Check the vault feed." He kept both hands raised. "Top-left corner. Personnel archive."

"You check it."

His jaw tightened. "Lyra—"

"Slowly."

He moved past me. His shoulder brushed mine, heat cutting through the vault's cold air. I didn't lower the gun while he reached the keyboard.

Three keystrokes split the main screen into a grid.

Thirteen faces stared back.

Every one of them was mine.

The same nose. The same scar through my left eyebrow. The same dark hair pulled tight for combat. Some had blood on their collars. One had half her face burned away.

My finger tightened on the trigger. "No."

"Subjects One through Thirteen," Jude said. "You're Fourteen."

"I didn't agree to this."

"Neither did they."

He opened the first file. A woman in a Grayharbor patrol uniform filled the screen.

"Subject One lasted four resets before she stopped fighting. Drake kept her alive through eight. Then she started over with Subject Two."

"Don't give me the brochure."

"I'm not." Jude clicked to the next file. "Two died during the blast.