Chapter 26 · Past Minute Twelve

"That wasn't my voice."

Jude didn't look up from the node. His hands moved fast, pulling wires, rerouting something I couldn't see. "Yeah it was."

"I didn't say that."

"Not yet." He glanced at me, just for a second. "You will. Minute eleven, loop sixty-three. You put your sidearm to my chest and told Drake I was the source."

I wanted to argue. I wanted to grab him by the collar and make him take it back. But my sister's distress feed was still cycling in my head, and the raw file he'd copied was sitting in my pocket like a live grenade.

"So why are you still here?" I said.

He smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Because you shot Drake first."

The node started to hum. Not the low background hum it always had. This was higher, tighter, like something about to snap.

"How much time?" I said.

"Thirty seconds. Maybe forty."

"That's past twelve."

"Yeah."

"We've never been past twelve."

"I know." He pulled another wire, and the hum climbed. "That's the point."

I stepped closer. The node was mounted into the wall, half-buried in concrete and old rebar. It looked like trash.