Chapter 28 · Midnight Has Teeth

"Don't touch that."

Cade's hand snaps around my wrist before my finger reaches the broadcast key. The core hums between us, spinning heat into the dead air. His grip's tight enough to bruise.

"Let go," I say.

"Not until you tell me what happens after you hit that button."

"The city wakes up. Everyone sees what Voss buried. We walk out."

"You're lying."

I yank my hand back. He doesn't release it. His pulse hammers against my skin, too fast, too uneven. The veins along his forearm are darker than they should be, branching black under the fluorescents.

"How long?" I ask.

"Doesn't matter."

"Cade."

"Forty-two minutes." His voice stays flat. "Give or take. Nix?"

The phone in my pocket crackles. Nix's voice drips out, distorted, slow. "Forty-one minutes, thirty-seven seconds until subject Mercer reaches systemic cascade. After that, memory retention fails. Motor function follows. He won't know you. He won't know himself."

"Shut up," Cade says.

Nix keeps going. "Broadcast requires manual confirmation every sixty seconds for the first eight minutes. Someone has to stay at the console. If the signal drops, Voss's kill switch activates and the core wipes itself clean. No evidence. No loop break.