Chapter 36 · The Log He Buried

"Move one finger and I put a round through your skull."

Jaxon froze with one hand inside the wall panel and the other pressed against the dead console. The gun barrel stayed hard against his temple. My grip was steady. His breathing wasn't.

"You always say that when you're scared?" he asked.

"I'm not scared. I'm deciding where to aim."

"Kael."

"Say my name again and I'll make this decision faster."

He turned his eyes toward me. That was all he dared move. Blue console light cut across his face, catching the thin line of blood under his jaw. He'd earned it when I slammed him into the pod frame three minutes ago.

He still looked annoyingly calm.

The chamber door behind us had sealed when the corpse pod activated. No exit. No backup. No clean way out. Just me, Jaxon, the body that had once carried my face, and a gun aimed at the one person who knew how to open the lock.

His fingers stayed inside the wall.

"Take your hand out," I said.

"If I do, the security lock trips."

"Then trip it."

"It'll fry the pod."

My eyes cut to the glass cylinder.