Chapter 3

The impact cracked bone.

She stared at the black lines spreading under my skin. "You just blocked that?"

"You were standing there."

"That wasn't an answer."

"It was the only one you get. Stay down."

Three drones dropped through the hole above us. Their targeting beams swept across the room. Red dots crawled over the floor, the walls, my hand pressed against Sloane's back.

She grabbed my jacket. "They're not police."

"No."

"Who are they?"

"The people who sent me to die."

A drone fired.

I shoved Sloane sideways. The round punched through the support where her head had been. Dust filled my mouth. Her body slammed into mine, warm and sharp, her breath catching against my throat.

For one second, she stayed there. Her fingers curled into my shirt. My hand was locked around her waist.

Then she pushed away. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you forgot we're being hunted."

"I didn't forget."

"Good. Then get me out."

She pointed toward the sealed service door. The door was twenty feet away, past two armed security units crawling through the wreckage.

I looked at her hand. "You want me to carry you?"

"I want you to kill the men between us and that door."

"Better."

I rose before she could argue.

The first guard swung his rifle. I crossed the distance in three steps, caught the barrel, and drove my elbow into his visor. The second guard fired from the side. Sloane snatched a fallen shock baton and jammed it into his knee.

He screamed. She hit him again.

"You said you needed my firepower," I said, wrenching the first guard's rifle away. "You never said you could fight."

"You never asked."

"I asked if you could keep up."

"And I lied. Move."

She ran for the door. I covered her, firing short bursts into the drones. One dropped. The other two backed away and released a cloud of silver needles.

Sloane stopped dead.

"Don't breathe that," I snapped.

"I know what it is."

"Then run."

"It tracks your blood."

The needles hit the floor and burst into vapor. My lungs seized. Heat ripped down my throat. The black lines beneath my skin flared bright enough to paint my hands blue.

My knees buckled.

Sloane grabbed my arm. "Kael. Stay with me."

"Open the door."

"It needs my retinal code."

"Then use it."

She pressed her palm to the scanner. Nothing happened.

The clinic speakers clicked on.

"Sloane Vale," a calm male voice said. "Step away from the asset."

Her face went tight. "No."

"Your father is offering you one chance to come home."

"Tell him to choke on it."

The speaker hissed. "The asset is unstable. If he reaches the lower streets, he will trigger a containment purge. You have thirty seconds."

I forced myself upright. "Your father knows my name."

"He knows what he paid for."

"What did he pay for?"

She looked at me, and the answer stuck behind her teeth.

A drone cut through the clinic window. Its weapon arm unfolded.

I shoved Sloane behind me. The drone fired. The shockwave threw us into the service door together.

Her back hit the metal. My body pinned her there. One hand braced beside her head. The other gripped the drone's barrel as it came through the shattered window.

The machine pulled. My shoulder burned. Sloane's breath brushed my jaw.

"Kael," she whispered. "Your eyes."

"Don't care."

"They're glowing."

"Still don't care."

"You're going to tear your arm apart."

"Then make the door work."

She reached around me. Her wrist pressed against my chest. Her pulse jumped under my fingers when I caught her to keep her from slipping.

She glanced at my hand. "Let go."

"You fall, I lose leverage."

"You don't have leverage. You have a death wish."

"Same thing, usually."

Her mouth twitched. It vanished fast.

She pressed her thumb to the scanner. This time, the door unlocked with a heavy clunk.

The drone twisted its barrel toward her.

I ripped the weapon free and crushed its sensor with my fist. Sparks spat across Sloane's cheek.

She flinched, but she didn't move away.

"You saved me," she said.

"You opened the door."

"That wasn't what I said."

"I heard you."

"Then answer me."

I shoved the ruined drone aside. "Run."

We crossed into the service tunnel. The door slammed behind us, but the lock light stayed red.

Sloane stared at it. "That won't hold."

"How long?"

"Forty seconds. Maybe less."

"Then we have forty seconds to fix the problem."

"The problem is you."

"The problem is your father."

"My father wants me alive."

"He wants you contained. There is a difference."

She stepped in front of me. "You don't know him."

My vision jerked.

The tunnel disappeared.

White walls. Steel restraints. A bright lamp over my face. My hands strapped down. A man stood beyond the glass with one palm resting on a control panel.

I knew the voice before I heard the words.

"Increase the pain response. He keeps resisting."

Sloane gasped.

The memory snapped away.

I caught the wall. My fingers punched into the concrete.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded.

"Nothing."

"You just showed me a lab."

"I said nothing."

"And I saw a man ordering someone to hurt you."

The lock behind us flashed yellow.

Sloane seized my sleeve. "How do I stop it?"

"Stop asking questions."

"How do I stop your head from splitting open?"

"You can't."

"Then tell me what you need."

I turned on her. "I need you to stop touching me."

Her hand remained on my arm. "Liar."

The word landed harder than the bullets.

A pulse hit my chest. The black lines surged from my ribs to my throat. My hand snapped toward her neck.

I stopped an inch from her skin.

My fingers shook.

Sloane went still. Her eyes dropped to my hand, then lifted to mine.

"Kael," she said carefully. "Put your hand down."

"I can't."

"Yes, you can."

"Something is inside the link."

"What kind of something?"

"A command."

The tunnel speakers crackled.

"Terminate the carrier," the calm voice ordered. "Recover Sloane Vale intact."

My fingers closed tighter.

Sloane's face lost its color. "Carrier?"

"Don't move."

"I wasn't planning to."

"Good."

"You need to break the command."

"I said I can't."

"Then use me."

I stared at her. "That is a terrible plan."

"You have a better one?"

"Yes. I kill you before the command does it for me."

She swallowed. Her pulse beat fast beneath the skin of her throat.

"You won't kill me," she said.

"You don't know that."

"I know you pulled me out of the line of fire."

"That was tactical."

"I know you took a round for me."

"That was irritating."

"I know your hand is shaking because you're fighting it."

"Stop talking."

"No. If you can hear me, you can fight."

The lock behind us turned red. Metal groaned.

Sloane grabbed my wrist with both hands. Her palms were hot against my skin. The contact shot pain through both of us.

She cried out.

The command inside my skull sharpened. Kill her. Remove the threat. Complete the sequence.

I slammed my free hand into the wall.

"Let go," I said.

"No."

"Sloane."

"If I let go, you lose control."

"If you stay, you get hurt."

"You think I don't know that?"

Pain flashed across her face. She bit down hard enough to draw blood from her lip.

I felt it through the link. Every nerve. Every breath. Her pain poured into me, hot and immediate.

"You're taking it," I said.

"Taking what?"

"The feedback. You're pulling it away from me."

"Because you're terrible at handling it."

"You're going to burn out."

"Then make this quick."

The command yanked my arm forward.

Sloane stepped closer instead of backing away. Her chest brushed mine. Her hair caught against my cheek. She looked furious, scared, and stubborn enough to fight a building.

"Listen to me," she said. "You don't get to die because my family built you wrong."

"You don't get to decide that."