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Juno's clinic smelled like burnt coffee and antiseptic that had been watered down three times too many. Mara pushed through the back door—the one Juno kept unlocked for people who couldn't afford to be seen walking through the front—and Kade came in behind her, moving too quiet for someone his size.
Juno looked up from a tray of instruments she was sterilizing in a sonic bath. Her eyes went to Kade first, then to Mara, then back to Kade. She didn't reach for the panic button under the counter, which meant she'd already decided this wasn't a robbery.
"You look like shit," Juno said.
Mara shut the door and locked it. "I need a scanner. The kind that reads implants."
Juno dried her hands on a towel that had probably been white once. "You need a shower and twelve hours of sleep. Who's the guy?"
"Someone Helios wants back."
That got Juno's attention. She set the towel down slow. "Helios Medical?"
"Yeah."
"The company that pays half my invoices?"
"That's the one."
Juno looked at Kade again. He was standing near the door with his arms loose at his sides, not blocking it but close enough that he could if someone tried to come through. His jacket was torn at the shoulder and there was dried blood on his knuckles that Mara was pretty sure wasn't his.
"What'd he take?" Juno asked.
"Nothing. They built him."
Juno's face didn't move but her posture changed. Just a little. Enough that Mara knew she'd heard stories about what Helios built in the sub-levels. Enough that she was reconsidering the panic button.
"He's not going to hurt you," Mara said.
"You sure about that?"
"No. But I'm still asking."
Juno looked at her for a long moment. Then she looked at Kade. "You got a name?"
"Kade."
"You planning to tear up my clinic, Kade?"
"No."
"Good. Mara's the only one who sends me customers anymore and I'd hate to lose her." Juno walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a handheld scanner that looked military-grade. "This what you need?"
Mara nodded.
"It's going to cost you."
"I know."
"I'm serious. Helios finds out I scanned one of their assets, they'll pull my license. Hell, they'll pull my building permit."
"I'll owe you," Mara said.
Juno handed her the scanner. "You already owe me. This makes it worse." She looked at Kade. "Exam table. Shirt off."
Kade didn't move.
"It's okay," Mara said.
He looked at her. His eyes were gray and they didn't blink as much as they should. "You're staying."
"I'm staying."
He walked to the exam table and pulled off his jacket. Then his shirt. There were scars across his chest and shoulders—surgical scars, the kind that were too clean to be accidents. Someone had opened him up more than once. Mara could see the edges of something under his skin near his collarbone, a shape that didn't belong.
Juno whistled low. "They really did build you."
Kade didn't answer. He sat on the table and his hands gripped the edge, not hard but steady, like he was waiting for something to go wrong.
Mara stepped closer. "We need to know what's inside him. Helios said something about a kill protocol."
"A what?"
"Some kind of code. It makes him—" Mara stopped. She didn't actually know what it made him do. She just knew that when she'd touched him in the ambulance his heartbeat had come back and the look in his eyes had changed. "It makes him dangerous."
"And you think scanning him is going to help?"
"I think we need to know what we're dealing with."
Juno powered up the scanner. It made a soft hum and the screen lit up green. "Lie down."
Kade looked at Mara.
"Kade," she said. Just his name. That was all.
He lay down.
Juno ran the scanner over his chest. The screen filled with lines and data points that Mara couldn't read fast enough. Juno's expression didn't change but her hand slowed when the scanner passed over his heart.
"What?" Mara asked.
"He's got a regulator where his SA node should be. Custom job. I've never seen one like this."
"What does it do?"
"Manages his heartbeat. Or stops it. Depends on what signal it's receiving." Juno moved the scanner up to his collarbone. "There's a transmitter here. And something else. Neural interface maybe. It's deep."
Mara's stomach dropped. "Can you pull the specs?"
"I can try." Juno connected the scanner to a terminal on the counter and started typing. The screen filled with code. Most of it was encrypted but there were fragments Mara could read—timestamps, activation logs, something labeled OVERRIDE PROTOCOL.
"There," Juno said. She tapped the screen. "That's your kill code. It's tied to his neural interface. Someone sends the right signal and his regulator stops his heart."
"Can we disable it?"
"Not without killing him. The regulator's doing more than stopping his heart—it's keeping it going. You pull that thing out and he flatlines."
Mara looked at Kade. He was staring at the ceiling and his jaw was tight. He already knew. Of course he knew.
"What about the override?" Mara asked.
Juno scrolled through the code. "There's a secondary input. Biometric. It's not in the specs but the logs show it activating three times in the last six hours." She looked at Mara. "That's you."
"Me?"
"Your pulse. Or your touch. Something about your biometrics is resetting his regulator. I don't know why and I don't think Helios does either. If they did, they wouldn't be chasing you—they'd be dissecting you."
Mara's hands were shaking. She shoved them in her pockets. "So I'm what. His off switch?"
"More like his safety. As long as you're close, the kill code can't fully engage. But if they separate you—" Juno didn't finish. She didn't have to.
Kade sat up. "We should go."
"Wait," Mara said. She looked at Juno. "Can you pull the activation logs? I need to know who's been sending the signals."
Juno typed for another minute. The screen flickered and a list of timestamps appeared. Most of them were labeled HELIOS CENTRAL, but there was one near the bottom that had a different tag. The timestamp was from eight months ago.
The speaker tag read: VALE, E.
Mara stopped breathing.
"Who's E. Vale?" Juno asked.
Mara couldn't answer. Her sister's name was Elise. Elise Vale. And eight months ago was when she'd disappeared.
Kade was watching her. "Mara."
She didn't look at him. She reached for the scanner and pulled up the audio file attached to the timestamp. Her hands were shaking so hard she almost dropped it.
"Don't," Kade said.
She played it anyway.
The voice that came through the speaker was thin and distorted but Mara knew it. She'd know it anywhere.
"If you're hearing this," Elise said, "then they've already started the trials. Kade—if you're listening—I'm sorry. I didn't know what they were going to do with the data. I didn't know they'd use you like this."
There was a pause. Background noise—machines beeping, someone talking in the distance.
"Mara, if you ever find this, don't come looking for me. They'll use you too. The pulse-link isn't just a failsafe. It's a—"
The file cut off.
Mara stared at the scanner. Her sister's voice was still echoing in her head. Don't come looking for me. But it was too late for that. It had been too late the moment she'd found the badge in the tunnel.
Juno was saying something but Mara couldn't hear her. She looked at Kade. He was standing now, his shirt still off, his eyes locked on hers.
"You knew," Mara said.
"I knew she worked on the project. I didn't know she left a file."
"What else didn't you tell me?"
Kade's jaw tightened. "A lot."
The door to the clinic rattled. Someone was trying the handle.
Juno grabbed a scalpel from the tray. "You expecting company?"
Mara looked at Kade. He was already moving toward the door, fast and silent. He put his hand on the frame and tilted his head, listening.
"Three of them," he said. "Helios."
The door rattled again. Then a voice came through, calm and clear. "Mara Vale. We know you're in there. Open the door and no one gets hurt."
Mara recognized the voice. Darian Crowe. Head of Helios Security. The same man who'd signed off on her sister's transfer to the sub-levels.
Kade looked at her. "Back door?"
Juno pointed to the far corner. "Through the storage room. It dumps into the alley."
"Go," Kade said.
Mara grabbed the scanner and ran. Juno was right behind her. Kade stayed at the door, his hand still on the frame, and Mara didn't look back because if she did she'd stop running and that would get them all killed.
She hit the storage room and shoved through the back door into the alley. The air was cold and it smelled like rotting garbage and rain. Juno came through behind her, still holding the scalpel.
"Where's Kade?" Juno asked.
Mara turned. The door was still open. She could hear voices inside the clinic—Crowe's voice, calm and deliberate, and then another sound. A crash. Something heavy hitting the floor.
Then Kade came through the door. He was breathing hard and there was fresh blood on his hands. He looked at Mara and his eyes were different. Darker. The kill code was trying to engage.
"Run," he said.
Mara didn't argue. She ran.