Chapter 32 · But you remember my mother?

"But you remember my mother?"

"I remember a woman trying to shut down the machine. I remember you screaming. I remember someone saying the subject was expendable."

"Who said it?"

Celine looked at her.

"I don't know."

Mira grabbed the front of Celine's hospital shirt and pulled her close. "Stop hiding behind that answer."

"I'm not hiding!"

"You always do this. Calm voice. Clean hands. No memory. You get to stand there while everybody else pays the bill."

Celine shoved her back.

Mira hit the metal cabinet hard enough to rattle the syringes inside.

Celine stared at her, shocked by her own strength.

Mira rubbed her shoulder. "There she is."

"I didn't mean to—"

"Yeah. You never do."

The door behind Mira opened.

Ethan stepped inside with a gun in one hand and a tablet in the other.

His eyes went straight to Mira's wrist. "Did you trigger the kill command?"

"Nice to see you too."

"Mira."

"It's still waiting."

Ethan looked through the glass at the console outside. His face hardened when he saw the red command.

"Cancel it."

"Give me one reason."

"Because if you terminate the host, you lose the only live interface in the building.