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Darian's gun stays level with my chest. His people fan out behind him, rifles up, and I'm standing in a fake clinic with Kade slumped against the wall and my sister's voice still looping in my head.
I should've known. The moment that operator said Elise's name, I should've turned around and run.
"Mara." Darian steps through the busted door like he owns the place. Maybe he does. "You made this harder than it needed to be."
Kade's shoulder digs into the plaster. His pupils are blown, sweat running down his temples, and his hand's locked around my wrist so tight I can feel my pulse hammering against his thumb. The operator—whoever the hell they really are—backs toward the corner, hands raised, playing innocent.
"You set this up," I say. My voice comes out flat. "You used her name."
"We used what worked." Darian tilts his head at Kade. "He's company property. You know that. And you just delivered him."
Kade's grip tightens. I glance down and his eyes are locked on Darian, but there's no fight left in him. The recall signal's still tearing through his skull. Whatever Elise did to block it, it died with her.
"Let him go," I say.
Darian laughs. Not a big one. Just a short, tired sound. "You think you get to negotiate?"
"I think you need me." I pull my wrist free and step between Kade and the rifles. "Otherwise you would've shot us the second you walked in."
One of the guards shifts. Darian raises a hand and the guy freezes.
"Smart," Darian says. "You're right. We do need you. Your pulse shuts him down. That's valuable. So here's the deal—you come with us, we keep Kade stable, and you get to live. Otherwise, I sedate him and drag him out, and you bleed on this floor."
Kade moves. Just a half step, but I feel the air shift.
"Don't," I say, not turning around. "Not yet."
Darian's watching us like we're lab rats. "He listens to you. Interesting."
"He listens because I don't treat him like a weapon."
"That's exactly what he is." Darian lowers the gun, just an inch. "You saw the footage. You know what he's done. Elise knew it too. That's why she tried to cage him."
I think about the voice file. The second protocol. Elise saying Helios buried something in their own system, something they couldn't risk going public.
"She didn't cage him," I say. "She protected him."
"By turning herself into a relay?" Darian shakes his head. "That's suicide with extra steps. And now she's dead, the signal's back online, and Kade's got maybe an hour before his brain fries. So let's skip the part where you pretend you have options."
Kade's breathing changes. Shorter. Faster. I reach back and grab his hand. His pulse kicks against my palm and the tension in his shoulders drops just a fraction.
Darian sees it. His jaw tightens.
"You want him alive," I say. "That means you need me functional, not locked in a cell. So here's my deal—let me access Helios records. Elise said there's a second protocol. If it's real, it could shut this down for good."
"And if it's not real?"
"Then you still have your weapon. But if you drag us back without checking, and the board finds out you ignored a lead, what do you think happens to you?"
Darian stares at me for a long time. The operator's stopped pretending to be harmless. They're watching Darian like they're waiting for an order.
Finally, Darian exhales. "You've got guts. I'll give you that." He holsters the gun. "But you're wrong about one thing. I don't need you functional. I just need you breathing."
He nods at the guards. Two of them step forward.
Kade moves faster than I thought he could. He shoves me aside and slams into the first guard, drives him into the wall hard enough to crack the plaster. The second guard swings his rifle up and Kade catches the barrel, twists, and the guy's wrist snaps with a sound like a branch breaking.
Darian pulls his gun again. "Stand down!"
Kade doesn't stop. He rips the rifle away and smashes the stock into the guard's face. Blood sprays. The operator bolts for the back door and Kade throws the rifle like a spear. It hits the doorframe two inches from their head and they freeze.
Darian fires. The shot goes wide, punches through the monitor behind Kade. Sparks fly.
"Kade!" I grab his arm. His skin's burning up. "Stop. You're making it worse."
He turns and for a second I don't recognize him. His eyes are all black, no color left, and his teeth are bared like an animal. Then my pulse hits him and he blinks. The color bleeds back in.
"Mara," he says. His voice sounds scraped raw. "I can't—"
"I know." I pull him toward the side door, the one the operator didn't take. "We're leaving."
Darian's already moving. "Lock it down! No one gets out!"
I shove Kade through the door and slam it behind us. We're in a storage room, metal shelves stacked with supplies, no windows. There's another door at the far end. I run for it and Kade stumbles after me, one hand braced against the shelves.
Behind us, something heavy hits the door. Once. Twice.
"They're coming through," Kade says.
I yank the far door open. It leads to a stairwell, concrete steps going down into the dark. I can hear the street below, traffic and voices, and I don't care where it goes as long as it's away from Darian.
We hit the stairs. Kade's lagging, his breath coming in short gasps, and I loop his arm over my shoulders and half-drag him down. My legs are screaming by the time we reach the bottom. There's a service exit, the kind with a push bar, and I slam into it.
We spill out into an alley. Rain's started again, cold and thin, and the streetlights throw orange shadows across the pavement. I can hear shouts behind us, boots on concrete.
"This way," Kade says. He pulls me left, toward the sound of the main road.
We run. My lungs burn. My phone buzzes in my pocket and I ignore it. We cut through a gap between two buildings, splash through a puddle deep enough to soak my shoes, and come out on a side street. A cab rolls past and I throw my hand up. It doesn't stop.
Kade's phone buzzes. He pulls it out with shaking hands and stares at the screen.
Then he stops walking.
"What?" I grab his shoulder. "What is it?"
He turns the phone so I can see. It's a message. No sender, just a string of numbers and a single line of text.
**RECALL CANCELLED. NEW DIRECTIVE: RETRIEVE VALE ALIVE. TERMINATE VOSS.**
My stomach drops.
"They changed the order," Kade says. His voice is dead flat. "They don't want me back. They want you."
I look at him. His face is pale, rain dripping off his hair, and for the first time since I pulled him out of that transport, he looks scared.
"They're going to kill you," I say.
He nods. "Yeah."
Behind us, I hear boots hitting pavement. Darian's people, closing in.
Kade looks at me. "Run."
"No." I grab his hand. His pulse jumps against mine. "We run together. Now move."
We turn and sprint toward the main road, but I can already hear them behind us, and I know we're not going to make it.
Kade's phone buzzes again. He glances down.
Then the streetlights cut out. All of them. The entire block goes dark.
Someone's helping us. I don't know who. But we're not dead yet.
I pull Kade into the shadows and we disappear.