Chapter 17 · Grid Lockdown

"Hold on to me or we both die!" Vesper shouted as the gunship rolled through the sky.

"You say that like I have a choice!"

The carriage dropped hard enough to slam my teeth together. Vesper's hand locked around the front of my jacket, her knuckles white, her body pressed against mine as the gunship spun toward the streets below.

The city rushed up through the broken belly of the craft.

Six hundred feet.

Five hundred.

The emergency lights flashed red across Vesper's face. Blood ran from her eyebrow and streaked down her cheek. Her corporate armor had split at the shoulder, exposing a strip of black fabric and the warm skin beneath it. She looked furious, not scared.

That was Vesper. The woman could be falling out of the sky and still look like she wanted to arrest gravity.

"How long?" she demanded.

"Until we hit?"

"Until you stop being useless."

"Thirty seconds. Maybe less."

"Then stop counting and fix the damn gunship."

A warning flashed across my optic.

CORE LINK: UNSTABLE.

NEURAL TETHER: 41%.

VESPER VITALS: CRITICAL.

My jaw tightened. Every time the craft twisted, the tether pulled through my skull. Vesper felt it too.