Chapter 14 · The Redacted Vault

"Don't touch that door!" Vesper's hand closed around my collar and slammed me against the vault wall.

The metal hit my spine hard enough to shake my teeth. Her forearm pressed under my jaw. One knee pinned my thigh. The edge of her coat brushed my face, carrying cold steel, burned plastic, and the sharp clean scent of her skin.

Behind her, the war mech turned its head.

Not smoothly. Not like a machine.

Its neck jerked three times. Cables dragged across the floor. A red lens opened in the center of its face, and the vault lights died one row at a time.

I grinned through the pressure on my throat. "You always greet guests like this?"

"You just reached for a sealed military vault." Her fingers tightened. "That wasn't a greeting. That was me stopping you before the room killed us."

"Then take your arm off my neck and explain faster."

"You don't get to give orders."

"Funny. I was about to say the same thing."

Her gray eyes dropped to my mouth for half a second.