Chapter 27 · You have intel

He did.

The override happened twelve minutes before the order was sent.

Twelve minutes before Selena had supposedly signed it.

Kane's throat tightened.

Selena came around the table. She stopped close enough that her sleeve brushed his hand as she took back the slate.

"You have intel," she said. "I have authority. You need both."

"You need me alive."

"For now."

"That's the closest thing to a yes I've heard from you."

"Don't get excited. I can still kill you after the next question."

"Ask it."

She held his gaze. "Where is Victor going?"

"The east command wing."

"Why?"

"To trigger the purge."

"No. That's what he wants us to think. Try again."

Kane watched her thumb move over the slate. She was testing him now, not asking for information. Every answer had to prove he wasn't feeding her a prepared script.

"The old reactor chamber," he said. "There's a control node under the command wing. He needs your biometric clearance to wake it."

Selena's expression barely moved.

"What does the node control?"

"The bastion's defense grid. The sync hangars. The lockdown system."

"And if he gets inside?"

"He can shut the whole fortress down from one console.