Chapter 13 · Borrowed Voice

The coordinates drop into my phone like a death sentence.

I'm staring at the screen while Kade leans against the tunnel wall, one hand pressed to the makeshift bandage Juno wrapped around his ribs. His breathing's shallow. The relay damage means his body's healing like a regular person now—slow, painful, and with a real risk of infection.

"Let me see," Juno says.

I tilt the phone. The map shows a building in the medical district. Not the main Helix tower. Something smaller. A research annex, maybe, or a black-site facility they don't put on the official schematics.

"That's bait," Kade says. His voice is rough. "Crowe wants us walking through the front door."

"I know."

"Then why are we talking about it like we have a choice?"

I look at him. His face is pale under the fluorescent work lights, but his eyes are sharp. He's not arguing because he's scared. He's arguing because he thinks I don't understand what I'm walking into.

I understand fine.

"Because we don't," I say. "Forty-eight hours, Kade. If we run, the kill code activates and you're dead. If we stay here, Crowe sends another team and we're dead.