Chapter 13 · The Dead Name

"Put the gun down, Lex." Cael caught my wrist before the barrel touched his jaw.

I drove my knee into his thigh.

He barely moved. His fingers tightened around me, warm and hard, while his other hand shoved my shoulder against the server cabinet. Metal punched between my shoulder blades. The stolen data chip dug into my palm.

"Try that again," he said.

"Gladly."

I twisted, slammed my elbow into his ribs, and brought the pistol up under his chin.

That got his attention.

His breath stopped against my cheek. Not fear. Cael didn’t do fear. His eyes dropped to the gun, then lifted back to mine, cold and sharp enough to cut.

"You really want to point that at me?" he asked.

"I want the file."

"You want to live through the next sixty seconds. Those aren't the same thing."

Behind him, the vault door flashed red. Three locks had already failed. Somewhere beyond the reinforced wall, hunters were tearing through the archive floor, one blast at a time.

My wristband vibrated.

SYSTEM ALERT: ADJUDICATOR LINK DESTABILIZING.

Cael saw the message reflected in my eyes. His mouth flattened.

"They're inside the building," he said. "Give me the chip."

"No."