Chapter 28 · Deadly Sync

"Keep your mouth shut, Kane." Selena's gloved hand locked around the back of his neck and shoved his face toward the restraint chair. "You speak once without permission, and I pull you out of the sim by breaking the link."

Kane caught himself on the chair's metal frame. The neural crown waited above it, its thin silver needles aimed at his temples.

"You say that like you haven't tried to kill me three times this week."

"Four." Selena tightened her grip. Her breath brushed his ear, warm against the cold metal room. "And I only regret missing the last one. Sit."

Kane looked past her at the sealed observation window. Victor stood behind the glass with two technicians, one hand resting on a tablet. He wore the same clean black uniform he had worn before the Purge. No blood on the cuffs. No fear in the eyes.

That face had ordered Kane into the suicide charge.

That face had watched the blast eat six hundred pilots.

That face had smiled when the gates closed behind them.

Kane's fingers curled against the chair.

"You're staring at Victor," Selena said.

"I'm trying to decide where to stab him first.