Chapter 11 · Synapse Blackout

"Get out of my head, Rex." Vesper's knife stopped against my throat, but her hand shook hard enough to scrape my skin. "Right now, or I cut the tether and let your brain cook with mine."

"You can't cut it."

"Then stop crawling through my shields."

Her eyes flashed silver. The vault lights popped one after another, throwing us into hard strips of red emergency glow. My skull pulsed with every flicker. So did hers. I could feel the pain behind her eyes like hot wire pressed against my own nerves.

I caught her wrist before the knife could dig deeper. Her skin was cold. Mine wasn't. Bio-energy crawled through my palm and sank into her arm, fighting the black static chewing through her neural shields.

Vesper sucked in a sharp breath. "Don't touch me."

"You want to keep your mind? Stand still."

"You don't get to order me around."

"You're welcome to argue after your brain stops melting."

She drove her knee into my thigh. I grunted and shoved her back against the steel wall.