Chapter 14 · I pushed her toward the control station

She gave me a crooked smile. It looked wrong on my face. Too warm. Too alive.

"Coward."

I pushed her toward the control station.

"Keep talking and I'll gag you."

"With whose mouth?"

"Don't test me."

"You already tested me. That's how we got here."

The panel sparked again. A hidden compartment opened beneath the floor, revealing a narrow maintenance tunnel.

Sloane leaned over it. "That goes where?"

"Down."

"You know that because?"

"Because I was built in places like this."

She looked at me sharply.

I hated the question before she asked it.

"Built by who?"

"Not now."

"You dragged me into a restricted lab, stole my father's data, and put us in each other's bodies. I think now is a pretty good time."

"You want answers? Survive the next ten minutes."

"That's your favorite answer."

"It works."

"Not on me."

The door split down the middle.

A black-armored hand reached through.

Sloane grabbed the metal tray beside her and swung it. The edge smashed into the soldier's wrist.