Chapter 18 · The Void Pact

"Step away from the door, Kai." Vala shoved me back with one hand and leveled her pistol at my chest with the other. "Now."

"You keep pointing that thing at me like it makes you taller."

"It makes you quieter."

The security door bucked behind her. Metal screamed. Dust dropped from the ceiling and peppered my jacket.

Vala did not look back. She kept her eyes on me, cold and sharp, while the door took another hit.

"You have ten seconds," she said. "Tell me what you saw in my head."

"You have a gun on me, a needle in my neck, and a team of corporate dogs about to cut us open. You want the polite version?"

"I want the truth."

"That’s new."

Her jaw tightened. The pistol moved an inch closer.

The nano-needle still burned beneath my skin. Every pulse sent a white spark through my skull. The Void had gone quiet, but quiet did not mean gone. It sat behind my thoughts, listening through the cracks.

And it knew her name.

Not Vala. Not the Enforcer title stamped into every public record.