Chapter 6 · No Such Thing as Safe

"Keep moving or they fry you where you stand!" Jax's hand locks around my wrist and yanks me down the service stairwell so hard my shoulder pops.

"Let go!" I snap, but I don't pull free. My legs are already moving. Too fast. Not my rhythm.

"Yeah, that's not you running," he pants behind me. "That's the mod. It's spiking. You feel that buzz behind your eyes?"

I do. It's like static chewing through my skull. The timer in my left eye won't stop flickering. 72:14:08. Then 72:14:07. Then it glitches.

Footsteps hammer above us. Two sets. Maybe three. Olympus sweep team. They don't shout. They don't need to.

"How'd they find us?" I hiss. "You said this clinic was dark."

"It was dark!" Jax shoves open the rusted door on the third sub-level and pushes me through. "Until you lit up like a goddamn Christmas tree when I tried to ping your locks. You broadcasted."

"I broadcasted? You were the one jacking into my head!"

"And you were the one with a corp kill-switch in her brain! So yeah, we're both idiots. Move!"

The hallway stinks like old coolant and fried meat.