Chapter 31 · The Collector Above

The ocean's black under me. Wind tears at the wing plates.

I'm doing Mach 2 and the system's already counting down. Ten minutes forty seconds. Heart's burning cold in my chest, mechanical rhythm like a countdown timer.

No Alpha voice. Just diagnostic text scrolling past my vision. CORE INTEGRITY 6%. LIFE SUPPORT REDIRECTED. ESTIMATED SHUTDOWN 00:10:38.

I push east. The coordinates Reyes pulled from Dad's phone are locked in my HUD. Forty-seven nautical miles. Buyer's yacht running dark, no transponder, but Defense satellites caught the heat signature twenty minutes ago.

Behind me the city's lit up like a dying star. I don't look back. Can't afford to.

Queen's still forming over downtown. Sentinel-Two's probably already engaging. She looked at me on that rooftop like I was defective equipment. Maybe I am. Six percent core and a dead AI. But I can fly, and she can't catch a boat doing sixty knots.

The countdown ticks. 00:10:11.

My comm crackles. Vera's voice, tight. "Iris. I'm tracking you. Yacht's changed course. Heading north now, trying to reach international waters."

"How long till the line?"

"Eighteen minutes at their current speed."

I do the math. I've got ten.