Chapter 27 · Your Sister Is On Their Side

"She's in the archives." Jude's voice was flat, no room for argument. "Your sister. She's been there the whole time."

I shoved him back against the corridor wall. "You're lying."

"Am I?" He didn't fight me. Just looked at me with those dead-calm eyes. "Who do you think coded the lockdown sequence? Who had clearance to bury the blast records?"

My hand was still fisted in his jacket. I could feel his heartbeat through the fabric, steady as a countdown. "Mara doesn't work for Drake."

"She works for the city. Drake is the city." He leaned in, close enough I could smell copper and smoke on him. "And you've been choosing me over her every reset. That's why Drake wants you dead."

I let go. Stepped back. My hand was shaking.

"You don't know her."

"I know she handed Drake the encryption key three months ago." Jude pushed off the wall, moved past me toward the archive junction. "I know she's the one who flagged my transport route. And I know she's downstairs right now, locking us out."

I followed him because I didn't have another play. The corridor smelled like burned wiring and old fear.