Chapter 24 · The Original Recipient

"Override code," Alpha barked through the facility speakers. "Verbal authorization only. Speak your full designation into the mic, or Iris dies."

Vera was dragging me backward, but my legs kept folding. Blood streaked the floor behind us. Mine, maybe. The bugs had chewed through too much for me to tell.

A bone saw screamed out of the lab. Surgical arms crawled over the threshold, cables scraping tile. One clamp opened and shut beside my head.

"What designation?" Vera shouted. "I don't know any code!"

"You do." Alpha's voice went cold. "Dr. Vera Chen. Primary recipient. Authentication code Seven-Seven-Hotel-Kilo. Say it now."

The nearest arm lunged.

Vera yanked me aside. The saw bit into the floor where my neck had been.

"Forty-nine seconds until extraction," Alpha said. "Begin authorization."

"I'm not part of this!" Vera snapped.

"You became part of it when you chose her over the extraction."

Vera looked at the cameras. Red lights blinked above every doorway.

"They're recording."

"They've been recording since you entered the lab."

I caught her wrist. My fingers barely closed around it. "Vera. Say the code."

Her eyes dropped to me. Blood ran from a cut along her cheek and disappeared beneath her collar.