Chapter 19 · Hounds Unleashed

"Get behind me and don't breathe," Eve snapped, slamming her palm into my chest and shoving me back against the med-bay wall.

The hatch bucked. BOOM. The whole pod rang like a gong and dust rained from the ceiling.

"They found us that fast?" I said. "You said this place was dark."

"It was dark," she hissed, gun up, back pressed to me. Her shoulder blades were sharp under that thin Syndicate jacket and she was running hot, too hot, fever-hot from the crash. "Until you lit us up like a goddamn beacon when you synced."

"Me? You're the one leaking protocol static all over the grid!"

"Shut up and listen." Her elbow jabbed my ribs. Hard. "That's not Syndicate boots."

Outside, something howled. Not a dog. Not human. It was wet and modulated, like a voice box trying to learn how to scream.

My blood went cold. The red light over the hatch was flashing. LOCKDOWN BREACH. LOCKDOWN BREACH.

"What the hell is that?" I whispered.

"Hounds," Eve said. Her voice dropped. Flat. Scared in a way she never lets me hear. "Silas's Hounds. Protocol hounds. They don't track heat. They track evolution.