Chapter 32 · The 12-Hour Panic

"Take your hand off the console, Jax. Now."

The gun was already pressed beneath his jaw.

Jax froze with one finger hovering over the cracked black keyboard. The screen reflected his face in broken green blocks, making him look even more guilty than usual.

"Kaelen, if I move, the timer jumps," he said.

"Then jump it."

"That's not how timers work."

I shoved the barrel harder against his skin. His throat moved under the metal.

"You have ten seconds to explain why my brain says twelve hours and your file says seventy-two."

His eyes slid toward the weapon. "You read the file."

"I read enough."

"You also read the part where touching that system can trigger the neural lock?"

"I don't care."

"You will when your vision turns white and your motor control drops out."

The countdown pulsed across the monitor.

11:59:42.

The numbers had started at seventy-two hours less than an hour ago. Then the display had stuttered, spat out three lines of red code, and dropped to twelve.

Jax had gone silent.

That was the part I hated most.

"You knew this could happen," I said.

"I suspected it."

"That wasn't my question.