Chapter 27 · Adrian Picks a Side

"We go. Now."

Adrian seized Lynn's wrist before the dead radio finished hissing. His grip was iron. Blood leaked through his shirt beneath the torn command seal.

"Rachel said my father trusted her." Lynn stared at the wall, at the words still burning behind her eyes: Trust Rachel when it counts. "He wouldn't have written that if—"

"Your father's been dead three years." Adrian dragged her toward the back exit. "You don't know what Rachel is now."

"She warned us."

"To flush us into a second line." His eyes flashed red. "Sixty seconds is a kill-squad timer. We stay, we die. We run upstairs, we die. The tunnel's our only—"

The radio crackled.

Rachel's voice came through ragged and tight. "Lynn. I can't hold them. Victor's here. He's got the Council warrant. If you don't come up, they're coming down, and I can't—"

A crash cut her off. Rachel screamed.

Adrian lunged for the tunnel door.

Lynn yanked free and ran for the stairs.

"Lynn!"

"You said we stay, we die!"

He cursed and followed. Good.