Chapter 27 · Neon Zero - Chapter 27: Don't Forget Me

"Don't pull it out," Knox said. "If you want me to save you, stop fighting my hands."

His kill switch pressed against the side of my neck. Cold metal. Warm fingers locked around my jaw. My knees kept trying to fold, but he held me upright against the sealed gate while the system screamed through every speaker in the district.

"You call this saving me?" I rasped.

"I call it buying you thirty seconds."

"Thirty seconds for what? A prettier death?"

Orin's voice snapped through the comm in Knox's collar. "The sync window is closing. Do it now or her identity code burns out."

The gate shuddered behind me.

"Mara!" Elias shouted from the other side. His voice cracked like it used to when he was scared. "Don't let him touch the core! He killed the last host!"

My chest jerked.

Knox felt it. His thumb pressed harder under my chin. "Look at me. Not the voice. Me."

"You expect me to trust the man holding a kill switch to my throat?"

"No. I expect you to trust the man who already gave up the only thing that could save him."

A red mark pulsed across his wrist. ROGUE OFFICER.