Chapter 18 · Overload: Memory Glitch

"Hold the line, Kael! If you let go now, we both fry!" Sloane’s voice wasn't just in my ear—it was scraping against the inside of my skull.

I didn't answer. I couldn't. My fingers were locked into the seam of her tactical vest, knuckles white, pulling her so close I could feel the frantic hammer of her heart against my ribs. The neural sync was screaming. It wasn't a connection anymore; it was a collision.

"I can't... see..." I gasped, my voice sounding like it belonged to someone else.

"Look through me!" she snapped, her hand slamming into the small of my back, pinning me against the cold metal of the corridor wall. "Stop trying to think and just *feel* where the guards are. I've got the visual, you've got the reflex. Now move!"

Suddenly, the world split. I saw the hallway—sterile white, flickering neon—but I also saw *myself*. I saw a guy with shredded clothes and wide, terrified eyes clinging to a woman who looked like she wanted to either kiss me or kill me. The sensory blur hit like a physical blow. I felt her adrenaline, a sharp, metallic taste in the back of my throat, and then—*there*.