Chapter 16 · Dancing in the Embers

"Get your hands off me, Kai." Vala's knife pressed under my jaw before I could take another step. "One wrong move and I open you from here to your collar."

"You can try." I kept my hands up, though my right palm was still sparking from the last pulse of Void code. "But if you drop me, the whole east grid drops with me."

Her eyes narrowed. The blade pushed harder. Cold metal kissed my skin.

Behind her, the abandoned transit station shook as another charge hit the upper platforms. Concrete dust rained through the broken ceiling. Somewhere above us, armored boots slammed across the rails.

The city had found us.

Not police. Not street hunters. Corporate Enforcers. Six squads, maybe more. Their scanners had already sealed the exits, and the red targeting beams cutting through the smoke were getting closer.

Vala did not look back. She did not need to. She could hear them better than I could.

"You called them here," she said.

"I did not."

"Your signal is all over the block."

"Because somebody is using my old access key."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"No.