"Don't breathe." Jaxon's hand slammed over my mouth and dragged me backward into the dark.
The city sirens ripped open right after. Not the usual Neon Gut whine. This was the deep one. The purge tone.
"City-wide lockdown initiated. Biometric sweep in progress. Remain where you are," the speakers blared overhead, so loud my teeth rattled. "Non-compliant units will be terminated on sight."
Red light flooded the alley. Drones. Dozens of them, dropping from the upper tiers like flies.
Jaxon didn't let go. His chest was at my back, his other arm locked around my ribs. I could feel his pulse hammering against my shoulder blade. Fast. Too fast.
"Let go," I hissed against his palm.
"You move, they tag you," he breathed right against my ear. "They're scanning for your Glitch signature. You light up like a flare right now."
"So what? You're gonna save me?"
"I'm gonna keep us both from getting shredded. Shut up."
A sweep drone hovered two feet from the slit we were crammed in. Its red eye washed over the trash, the puddles, the wall. I held my breath until my lungs burned.
The Glitch in my head pulsed. Hot. Hungry.
[WARNING: EXTERNAL SCAN DETECTED. COUNTERMEASURE REQUIRED: PULSE SYNC.]
My vision glitched. For a second I saw the drone's targeting laser lock right on my forehead.
Jaxon felt me flinch. "What is it?"
"It's trying to do something. It wants a sync."
"Don't. Don't let it."
"If I don't, it fries me. If I do—" I choked as another wave of heat shot through my neck port. "It says it needs your pulse."
He went still. Completely still.
The drone was still there. Scanning. Another one joined it.
"Jaxon, they're gonna find us in about ten seconds."
"I know."
"So decide. Mission or whatever the hell this is."
He swore under his breath and spun me around. Now we were face to face in a space that was maybe two feet wide. My knees hit his. His hands were on my shoulders, caging me against the concrete. His face was inches from mine. I could see sweat on his temple, the faint glow of his corp implant at his jaw.
"Listen to me," he said, low and fast. "That thing in your head, it doesn't do freebies. You link with me, it ties us. My vitals to yours. You glitch, I bleed. You die, I—"
"You die first?" I snapped. "That's what the timer said last time. Failure kills you first."
"Yeah. That's the price. It uses my authorized signal to hide yours. But the feedback loops back into me."
"So it's a leash."
"It's a bomb with two triggers," he said. "You sure you want that?"
"Do I have a choice?" I looked past his shoulder. The drone's light was getting brighter. "They're coming."
He stared at me for one more second. Like he was actually weighing it. Leave me and complete his purge order, or tie his life to a scrapped assassin who should already be dead.
Then he grabbed my hand and shoved it flat against his chest. His heart was pounding under my palm. Hard. Hot through his shirt.
"Do it," he said.
"Jaxon—"
"Do it now, Kael!"
I didn't think. I let the Glitch go.
Heat ripped up my arm. Code flooded my eyes. Jaxon's pulse spiked under my hand and then— synced. My heartbeat stuttered and fell into rhythm with his. Thump. Thump. Thump. One beat. Ours.
[SYNC ESTABLISHED. MEMORY TAX: ONE FRAGMENT WILL BE SEALED.]
"What does that mean?" I gasped.
"It means it takes something every time," he gritted out. His forehead dropped to mine. He was breathing hard. "It eats a memory to pay for the power. That's the tax."
The drone's red eye swept over our slit— and passed right through. Nothing. We were dark. Invisible.
The speakers kept screaming. "Sweep complete. Sector 9 clear. Moving to Sector 10."
The drones lifted. Gone.
We stayed like that. Locked in that tiny slit, sharing air, sharing a heartbeat. His hand was still over mine, pinning it to his chest. My other hand had grabbed his jacket without me noticing. Fingers twisted in the fabric.
"You can let go now," I said, but my voice came out thin.
He didn't let go. His eyes dropped to my mouth, then back up. "You good?"
"Peachy. I just sold a memory I don't even know I lost."
"You didn't have a choice."
"You did." I stared at him. Really stared. "Why'd you do it? You could've walked. Left me to get tagged. Mission done."
His jaw tightened. His thumb brushed once, just once, against the inside of my wrist where my pulse was hammering. Skin on skin. Hot.
"I'm not watching you die twice," he said.
The words hit weird. Low. Rough. Like he'd been holding them in his teeth.
"Twice?" I said. "What do you mean twice? I've only died once. When they scrapped me."
He didn't answer. He finally pulled back, just an inch, but that inch felt like a mile of cold air rushing in. He let go of my hand. I felt the loss of his heat instantly.
"We need to move," he said. "That sync won't hold long. We need to get off-grid before the next sweep."
"No. No, don't do that. Don't deflect." I grabbed his arm. "What did you mean, twice?"
The Glitch pulsed again. Not from the drones this time. From me. From that tax it just took.
A crack. Like ice splitting in my head.
A memory that wasn't supposed to be there anymore bled through. Sealed, then forced open by the sync feedback.
Cold floor. My hands zip-tied. A gun barrel. And a voice.
His voice.
"Kael?" Jaxon said, frowning. "Hey. You with me?"
I couldn't breathe. The image sharpened. The man holding the gun wasn't some corp hound. It was him. Younger. No scar at his jaw yet. But it was him. Finger on the trigger. Looking right at me.
"You—" My hand shot up and grabbed his collar, yanking him close. My other hand found the knife at my thigh and pressed it under his chin. Hard enough to make him tilt his head back. "You pulled the trigger."
His eyes went wide. Real shock. No acting.
"What?"
"Don't lie to me!" I shoved him back against the wall, knife biting. "I remember. You. You were the one. You shot me. You scrapped me!"
He grabbed my wrist, but didn't push the blade away. His grip was tight, shaking. "Kael, listen—"
"Why am I seeing you with a gun to my head?"
The city speakers crackled again, but this time it wasn't a sweep warning. It was a new alert. Cheery. Corporate.
"Bounty update. Priority targets: Kael, Unit 09. Jaxon Rho, Agent First Class. Status: Traitor. Lethal force authorized. Reward: Tier One clearance."
Our faces lit up on every screen in the alley. Both of us. Side by side.
His name right next to mine. With a countdown starting under it.
00:59:59.
"Jaxon," I whispered, knife still at his throat, the memory still burning behind my eyes, "did you—"