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The drones locked on first.
Mara felt Kade's grip tighten before she even registered the sound. That low mechanical whine, the kind that came right before someone got shot. She yanked him back against the brick wall, her medic bag slamming into her ribs.
"Mara Vale." The suit's voice carried down the alley like he was commenting on the weather. "Your sister talked about you. Said you were stubborn."
She didn't answer. Her free hand was already digging through her bag, fingers closing around the emergency flare she kept for night calls in bad zones. Kade's pulse hammered against her wrist, way too fast, way too uneven. The kind of rhythm that meant his body was trying to decide whether to shut down or tear something apart.
"Kade." The suit took a step forward. The drones adjusted, red targeting beams cutting through the steam rising from a busted pipe. "You know how this ends. Command's already routing the recall signal. You can feel it, can't you?"
Kade's jaw clenched. Yeah. He could feel it.
Mara's thumb found the flare cap. "He's not going anywhere."
"I'm not asking you." The suit's tone didn't change. Still calm. Still reasonable. The kind of voice that made orders sound like suggestions. "Helios invested fourteen million into that build. You're holding company property."
"He's not property."
"He's not a person either." The suit tilted his head, like he was genuinely curious why she didn't get it. "Your sister understood that. Eventually."
Mara's blood went cold. "What did you do to her?"
"Elise made a choice. She picked him over the contract. Over her own safety." He gestured at Kade. "Look where that got her."
Kade moved before Mara could stop him. One second he was against the wall, the next he was three steps forward, putting himself between her and the drones. His shoulders were tight, his breathing shallow, and she could see the way his hands shook even as he tried to stand steady.
"Don't." His voice came out rough. "Don't talk about her."
The suit didn't flinch. "Stand down, Voss. That's an order."
For a second, nothing happened. Then Kade's knees buckled.
Mara lunged, catching his arm before he hit the ground. His skin was burning up, hotter than it had been two minutes ago, and his pulse was doing something she'd never felt before. Stuttering. Like his heart kept trying to stop and something kept forcing it back online.
"Kade. Hey. Stay with me."
He didn't answer. His eyes were locked on the suit, but his body wasn't listening to him anymore. She could feel the tremor running through his muscles, the way his chest hitched like he was trying to breathe through broken glass.
The suit sighed. "The recall code's live. He's fighting it, but he won't last. Let him go, Ms. Vale. This doesn't have to get messy."
Mara pulled Kade's wrist up, pressing her fingers hard against the pulse point. His heartbeat slammed into her palm, erratic and desperate, and she felt the moment it started to even out. Just a fraction. Just enough.
"Mara." Kade's voice cracked. "You need to run."
"Shut up."
"I'm serious. If the code locks in—"
"I said shut up." She kept her grip tight, her other hand yanking the flare free. "You're not a patient and I'm not leaving."
His eyes snapped to hers. Something in his expression broke open, just for a second, and she saw it. The fear. Not of the drones or the suit or even the kill code burning through his system. Fear that she'd finally see him the way everyone else did.
She didn't look away.
The suit's patience ran out. "Retrieve him."
The drones opened fire.
Mara hit the flare and threw it straight at the nearest one. The magnesium charge went off like a flashbang, white light flooding the alley, and she heard the drone's targeting system scream as it tried to recalibrate. Kade shoved her behind a dumpster, his body covering hers, and the second drone's shots punched into the metal above their heads.
"Move!" Kade's voice was barely human. He grabbed her hand and ran.
They made it maybe twenty feet before the pain hit him. Mara felt it through their linked hands, the way his entire system seized up, and then he was stumbling, his legs giving out mid-stride. She caught him, her shoulder taking his weight, and dragged him into the gap between two buildings.
"Okay. Okay, we're good." She wasn't sure if she was talking to him or herself. Her hands were shaking as she pressed them to his chest, trying to feel past the scar tissue and reinforced plating to whatever was left of his real heart underneath. "Just breathe. I've got you."
Kade's hand closed over hers. "You can't—" He sucked in a breath, his whole body locking up. "If the code finishes, I won't be able to stop. You have to—"
"I'm not running." She leaned in, her forehead almost touching his. "Elise made you into something they can't control without me. So they're not getting you back. Got it?"
His pupils were blown, his breathing ragged, but he nodded.
Footsteps echoed down the main alley. The suit's voice carried through the dark. "You're only making this harder, Ms. Vale. For both of you."
Mara's phone buzzed in her pocket.
She almost ignored it. Then it buzzed again. And again. Not a call. A text. She fumbled it out with one hand, keeping the other locked on Kade's wrist.
Unknown number. A single line of text and a string of coordinates.
*Bring him. I can help. —Sanctuary.*
Her chest tightened. Sanctuary was one of those ghost clinics, the kind that didn't officially exist. The kind that took patients who couldn't go to real hospitals because real hospitals asked questions. She'd heard rumors about a place in the factory district, off-grid and hidden, but she'd never gotten a location.
Another buzz. A second message.
*Elise sent you to me.*
Mara's heart stopped.
Kade was watching her face. "What is it?"
She held up the phone, her hand shaking. "Someone who knew my sister."
He stared at the screen. Then at her. "Could be a trap."
"Could be." She shoved the phone back in her pocket and pulled him to his feet. "But we're out of options."
They moved fast, keeping to the shadows, Mara's hand locked on Kade's the entire time. His pulse steadied the longer she held on, but she could feel how much effort it was costing him. Every step was a fight. Every breath was deliberate.
The coordinates led them to a service door half-buried under rusted scaffolding. Mara hit the call button next to the frame. Static crackled through the speaker.
"Yeah?" A woman's voice. Tired. Wary.
"I got a text. From Sanctuary."
"Name."
"Mara Vale."
Silence. Then the static shifted, and the woman's voice came back different. Sharper. "Elise's sister."
"Yeah."
Another pause. Longer this time. Mara heard something in the background, voices maybe, or equipment, she couldn't tell. Her grip on Kade tightened.
The door buzzed. Started to open.
"Come in. Fast."
Mara pulled Kade through, and the door slammed shut behind them. The space inside was narrow, concrete walls lit by flickering overhead strips. The woman standing at the far end was maybe forty, scrubs streaked with old bloodstains, her hair tied back in a messy knot.
She looked at Kade. Then at Mara. Her expression didn't change.
"He's the one Elise died for."
Mara's throat closed. "You knew her."
"She called me three days before Helios found her." The woman stepped closer, her eyes scanning Kade like she was taking inventory. "Said if her sister ever showed up with a man who had no heartbeat, I should get them off the street before the kill code fried his brain."
Kade's hand clenched around Mara's. "How much did she tell you?"
"Enough." The woman pulled a scanner from her pocket, aimed it at his chest. The readout flickered, numbers jumping all over the place. "You're running on borrowed time. The recall signal's looping. Another hour and your nervous system's going to cook itself."
Mara's stomach dropped. "Can you stop it?"
"I can buy you time. Maybe." The woman looked at her. "But you need to keep holding him. His vitals stabilize when you touch him. I don't know why, but Elise said it was the only thing that worked."
"She changed his reset protocol." Mara's voice came out flat. "Made it key to my biometrics. My pulse shuts down the kill code."
The woman's eyes widened. Then she laughed, short and bitter. "Of course she did. That's the most Elise thing I've ever heard."
She turned and started walking deeper into the clinic. "Come on. We don't have much time."
Mara and Kade followed, their hands still locked together. The hallway opened into a makeshift surgical suite, all salvaged equipment and improvised setups. The woman grabbed a syringe from a steel tray, checked the label, and turned back to Kade.
"This'll slow the signal. Won't stop it, but it'll give us a window." She paused. "It's going to hurt."
Kade didn't hesitate. "Do it."
The woman injected the dose straight into his neck. Kade's entire body went rigid, his hand crushing Mara's, and then he was gasping, his knees buckling. Mara caught him, lowering him onto the exam table, her palm pressed flat against his chest.
"Stay with me. Kade. Look at me."
His eyes found hers. Barely.
The woman was already moving, pulling up data on a cracked tablet. "I need to map the signal pathway. Figure out where the code's anchored. If I can isolate it—" She stopped. Stared at the screen. "Oh, hell."
Mara's blood ran cold. "What?"
The woman turned the tablet around. The readout showed a schematic of Kade's nervous system, lit up in red. And right at the center, buried in the base of his skull, was a secondary transmitter.
"Elise didn't just rewrite the reset protocol." The woman's voice was quiet. "She installed a remote line. If anyone tried to force the kill code, it would reroute through her."
Mara's breath caught. "Through her?"
"She made herself the failsafe. If Helios activated the recall, the signal would hit her first. Give you time to run." The woman's jaw tightened. "That's why they killed her. She was blocking the code."
The room tilted. Mara's hand shook against Kade's chest, and she felt his pulse stutter under her palm, felt the way his entire body was trying to hold together and failing.
Elise hadn't just saved him. She'd died keeping him alive.
The tablet buzzed. A new line of text scrolled across the screen.
*Incoming call. Rerouted from Elise Vale's personal line.*
The woman's face went white. "That's impossible. Her line's been dead for two weeks."
Mara stared at the screen. At the blinking call icon. At the name that shouldn't exist anymore.
*Elise Vale.*
Her hand was shaking so hard she almost dropped the tablet. She hit accept.
Static flooded the speaker. Then a voice. Distorted. Broken. But unmistakable.
"Mara."
Her sister's voice.
"If you're hearing this, it means the failsafe worked. It means you found him." A pause. Breathing. "Don't let them take him back. Don't let them turn him into what they wanted. He's more than that. You'll see."
The static surged. The line crackled.
"There's a second protocol. Hidden. I buried it deep, but you can find it. You just have to—"
The transmission cut.
Mara stared at the dead screen. At the silence where her sister's voice had been.
The woman was already moving, pulling up system logs, her fingers flying over the keyboard. "She left something. A backup file. It's still transmitting."
"Where?" Mara's voice was barely a whisper.
"I don't know. But it's live. It's—" The woman stopped. Her face went pale. "It's coming from inside Helios headquarters."
Mara's heart slammed into her ribs.
Kade's hand closed over hers, his grip weak but steady. "Mara."
She looked down at him. At the fear in his eyes. At the way he was still holding on, even though every part of him was breaking.
"We have to go back," she said.
The woman shook her head. "That's suicide."
"I don't care." Mara's voice was steel. "If there's a chance Elise left something that can stop this, I'm taking it."
The tablet buzzed again. Another message. Same unknown number.
*The operator at Sanctuary isn't who she says she is. Get out. Now.*
Mara's blood turned to ice.
She looked up. The woman was smiling.
"Too late," the woman said, and hit a button on the wall.
Alarms screamed. The door at the far end of the room slammed open.
Darian Crowe stepped through, two armed guards behind him.
He looked at Mara. At Kade. His expression was almost apologetic.
"I'm sorry," he said. "But Elise should've known better than to trust Juno's old contacts."
Mara's world tilted.
Juno.
The woman wasn't Sanctuary. She was Helios.
And Mara had just walked Kade straight into their hands.