Chapter 10 · Ghosts in the Machine

"Kael? Holy shit, Kael, is that you?"

The voice hit me before the door finished opening.

Reyes stood in the hallway. Smiling. Whole. Alive.

Which was impossible, because I watched Reyes die. Two years ago. Victor put a bullet in his head himself and made me watch.

"Don't move," Jaxon hissed behind me. His hand locked around my wrist, hard. "Kael, don't you fucking move."

I couldn't. My legs forgot how to work.

"Reyes?" My voice came out cracked and small. "No. No way."

He grinned wider. Same crooked tooth. Same scar through his eyebrow. "Took you long enough to answer your comms, Ghost. We thought you got scrapped for real this time."

Ghost. Only my squad called me that.

Behind him, Mara stepped into the light. Then Chen. Both dead. Both smiling exactly the same way.

"Mara? Chen?" I said. "What the hell is this?"

"What does it look like?" Mara said. She tilted her head. Her eyes didn't blink. "We came to bring you home. Victor misses you."

Jaxon's grip tightened until my bones ground together. His chest pressed against my back.

"Stay behind me," he breathed against my ear. His voice was low and pissed.