Chapter 7 · The First Operator

"Don't touch that."

Jude caught my wrist before my fingers reached the panel. Gunfire hammered through the steel door behind us. My squad was holding Drake's reinforcements in the corridor, and every burst sounded closer than the last.

I ripped free. "You said this keeps the loop running. I shut it down, we're out."

"Wrong." Jude stepped between me and the console. Blood had dried along his hairline, the same cut I'd seen on him two resets ago. "You shut it down wrong, everyone in the blast radius goes into cardiac arrest. Your sister included."

I stopped. "You left that out."

"You didn't ask."

"I shouldn't have to ask whether your plan kills my sister."

His eyes cut toward the buckling door. Then he moved to the central column and brushed his fingers over a row of input slots. Each one had a nameplate beneath it. Most were blank.

One wasn't.

CAPT. L. VANE.

My stomach tightened. "What is that?"

"The exit protocol." He pulled the data stick from his jacket. "One person stays connected while everyone else gets pulled clear."

"Who stays?"

"The system chooses a command signature.