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The gunshot cracked behind us and I yanked Kade into the first alley I saw.
His hand was still locked around mine. I could feel his pulse hammering against my fingers now, hot and real and too fast. The alley smelled like burned garbage and old rain. Somewhere above us a window slammed shut.
"Move." His voice was rough. He pulled me deeper into the shadows before I could catch my breath.
I stumbled after him because I didn't have a choice. The Helios guards were shouting back at the transport site. Radio static crackled through the street behind us. They'd be in the alley in thirty seconds, maybe less.
Kade stopped at a chain-link fence, looked at it for half a second, then tore the whole section out of the concrete.
I stared.
He didn't even grunt. Just ripped it free like it was cardboard and shoved me through. "Go."
"What the hell are you?"
"Not now." He followed me through and threw the fence back into place. It wouldn't fool anyone but it might buy us ten seconds. He grabbed my wrist again and dragged me toward the far end of the alley.
My medic bag kept slamming into my hip. I could hear boots hitting pavement behind us. Flashlight beams swept across the walls.
"Stop running and we can talk," someone shouted. It was the same voice from the radio. Calm. Professional. Like he was asking us to fill out paperwork.
Kade didn't stop.
We hit the street and he pulled me left, into the flow of late-night foot traffic. Neon signs buzzed overhead. The crowd was thick here, people stumbling out of bars and food stalls. Kade kept his head down and moved fast, weaving between bodies like he'd done this a hundred times.
I tried to pull my hand free. "Let go."
"No."
"I'm not your hostage."
"You're not. But they'll shoot you the second they see you." He glanced back, then pulled me into a side street. This one was darker. Empty. The kind of block where the lights stay broken.
"Why?" I yanked my wrist again. "I didn't do anything."
He finally let go. Stepped back. His chest was heaving now, ribs expanding hard under the torn gray shirt. I could see the edge of something metallic along his collarbone, just under the skin. Not a scar. A seam.
"You touched me," he said.
"Yeah. That's called performing emergency medical care."
"You shut down the kill protocol."
I opened my mouth. Closed it. My brain was trying to catch up but the words didn't make sense. "The what?"
"I was going to tear through those guards. I was halfway there when you put your hands on me." He pressed a palm against his chest, right where I'd felt for a pulse. "You stopped it. I don't know how, but you did."
"That's insane."
"Look at me." His voice dropped. "Do I look insane?"
I looked.
He was standing too still. No fidgeting. No weight shifting. His breathing had already slowed down, even though we'd just sprinted three blocks. And his eyes were locked on mine with the kind of focus that made my stomach twist.
"What are you?" I asked again.
"A mistake." He turned his head toward the mouth of the alley. Listening. "They're spreading out. We have maybe two minutes before they lock down the block."
"I have a shift. I have a partner waiting for me."
"Your partner's fine. You're not." He looked back at me. "Helios flagged you the second you interfaced with my system. They'll say you aided an escape. They'll say you're a security risk. And then they'll put you in a cell until they figure out what you did to me."
My throat felt tight. "I didn't do anything."
"Doesn't matter." He stepped closer. Not threatening. Careful. Like he thought I might bolt. "You have two options. Run with me, or wait here and explain yourself to the people who built me."
I should have told him to go to hell. Should have walked back to my ambulance and filed a report and let someone else deal with whatever Helios was hiding.
But I kept seeing the way those guards had moved. The way they'd surrounded the transport like it was a military operation, not a medical emergency. The way the voice on the radio had said detain her, not assist her.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
Kade's mouth twitched. Not quite a smile. "Somewhere they can't track us."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have." He held out his hand.
I looked at it. His palm was scraped raw from the fence. There was a faint glow under the skin, like something was lit up beneath the surface. It pulsed in time with his heartbeat.
I didn't take his hand.
Behind us, boots hit the pavement. Close. Too close.
"Mara." He said my name like he'd known it forever. "Please."
I grabbed his hand and ran.
***
The tunnel entrance was hidden behind a boarded-up pawn shop. Kade kicked the boards aside and pulled me into the dark.
I fumbled for my phone, turned on the flashlight. The beam cut through the black and hit a concrete wall covered in old graffiti. The air smelled like rust and something chemical. My boots crunched on broken glass.
"This is a great place to get murdered," I said.
"It's a maintenance tunnel. Runs under the old transit line." Kade moved ahead of me, one hand trailing along the wall. "Helios doesn't monitor down here. Too much interference from the subway."
"How do you know that?"
"I used to run routes for them." His voice echoed off the concrete. "Before I figured out what the routes were for."
I wanted to ask what that meant, but my flashlight caught something on the ground and I stopped.
A medic badge. Scratched. Half-buried in the dirt.
I crouched down and picked it up. The ID photo was faded but I could still see the face. Short dark hair. Sharp jaw. The same nose I saw in the mirror every morning.
My hand started shaking.
"Kade."
He turned around. Saw the badge. His expression didn't change but something shifted behind his eyes.
"Where did this come from?" My voice cracked. "This is my sister's."
He didn't say anything.
"Kade." I stood up. The badge felt too light in my hand, like it might disappear if I stopped holding it. "Where did you get this?"
"I didn't." He took a step closer. Stopped. "But I know who did."
My chest felt too tight. I couldn't breathe right. "She's been missing for eight months."
"I know."
"You know?" I shoved him. He didn't move. "How the hell do you know?"
He looked at the badge in my hand. Then at me. His jaw tightened.
"I saw her," he said.
The tunnel went silent. Even the distant rumble of the subway felt too far away.
"When?" I whispered.
"Three weeks ago." His voice was flat. Careful. Like he was trying not to break something. "She was in a Helios facility. Sub-level. They had her in a medical restraint."
My knees felt weak. I leaned back against the wall because standing wasn't working anymore.
"Was she alive?"
"Yes."
I closed my eyes. Opened them. The badge was still there. Still real.
"Why didn't you—"
"I was locked in a cell ten feet away." His hands curled into fists. "I couldn't get to her. I tried. They sedated me before I could break the door."
I stared at him. At the seams under his skin. At the way his pulse glowed faint blue in the dark.
"What did they do to her?" I asked.
Kade looked at me for a long time. Then he reached out, slow, and took the badge from my hand. He turned it over. On the back, someone had scratched a single word into the metal.
Override.
"They were testing something," he said quietly. "Something they wanted to make sure worked before they used it on me."
The subway rumbled overhead. Dust sifted down from the ceiling.
"I need to find her," I said.
"I know." He handed the badge back. "That's why I'm not letting you go back."
I didn't argue.
I just held my sister's badge and followed him deeper into the dark.