Chapter 18 · She Sold Me Twice

The original didn't wait for answers.

She swung her legs off the pod edge and stood. No wobble. No cryo-lag. Like she'd been awake the whole time and just decided now was good.

I couldn't move.

"Back up," Briar said. Her gun came up fast, muzzle on the woman wearing my face. "Hands where I can see them."

The original looked at the gun. Then at Briar. Her mouth did something I'd seen in the mirror a thousand times. Half-smile. The kind that said she'd already run the math and didn't like your odds.

"You're Holt," she said.

Briar's jaw tightened. "I said hands."

"I know." The original raised both palms, slow and easy. Her eyes didn't leave Briar's face. "You were supposed to keep me off the market. Guess that didn't take."

"Sable." Briar's voice dropped half an octave. "We need to go. Now."

She meant me. The fake one. The copy the ship had just disavowed.

I still couldn't move.

The original's gaze flicked to me. Clinical. Like she was cataloging parts. "How long?"

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out.

"Weeks," Briar said. "Maybe a month. We pulled her out of the primary hold.