Chapter 43 · Death Flashback

"Get out of my head!" Selena slammed both hands against the restraint glass as Kane's death tore through her mind again.

The cockpit vanished.

She was standing inside a burning hangar. Warning lights strobed across the walls. Metal screamed somewhere above her. Kane was on his knees ten feet away, blood running from his mouth while three rifles pointed at his chest.

Victor stood behind him.

"You promised me a clean extraction," Kane rasped.

"I promised you a chance to be useful." Victor adjusted his gloves. "You should've known better than to expect survival."

Selena knew this place.

Not because she had been there.

Because Kane had died here.

The sync chamber shook around her. A red line crawled across the glass.

SYNC ERROR: MEMORY BREACH.

"Commander, cut the link!" the technician shouted through the speaker. "His neural feed is dragging you under!"

Selena pressed her palm to the glass. Kane's body jerked inside the pilot cradle. His fingers clawed at the restraints, but the machine held him down.

"How long?" she demanded.

"Eight seconds before the feedback cooks both of you."

"Then you have eight seconds to stop yelling."

"Commander—"

"Seal the chamber. Nobody touches the controls.