Chapter 19 · Flatline Clinic

"Get away from my core!" Vesper slammed me into the operating table as the ceiling came down behind us.

Metal shrieked. Sparks showered across the clinic. A burning support beam punched through the tiles and smashed into the surgical lights, sending glass over the floor.

I caught Vesper's wrist before she could drive the injector into my throat.

"You first," I growled. "Put that needle down."

"You want me dead?"

"You're holding the thing that can kill me. That's usually a clue."

Her silver eyes flashed. She twisted hard, using the leverage of my bad leg against me. Pain shot up my hip. My grip slipped, and the injector came down again.

I knocked it aside. The needle punched into the table instead, hissing as blue fluid spilled over the steel.

"That was a stabilizer," she snapped.

"Looked like poison."

"Everything looks like poison to you."

"Because people keep trying to poison me."

The clinic door exploded inward.

A shape pushed through the flames.

It was too tall for the doorway, wrapped in black armor that flexed like muscle under wet leather. One shoulder scraped the frame. The armor split open in strips, revealing glowing plates beneath.