Chapter 7 · The Phone Isn't the Cage

"Give me the phone."

Cade's voice cuts through the ringing in my ears. We're pressed against the loading dock wall, and I can feel his pulse hammering through his jacket where my shoulder digs into his chest. The woman who knew my name is twenty feet away, gun still raised, waiting.

"No."

"Mara—"

"I said no." I shove the phone deeper into my pocket. "You want proof, right? Evidence? Then we need Nix alive."

"We need you alive." His hand wraps around my wrist, tight enough that I feel every callus. "And that thing is painting a target on your back."

"It's been on my back since I picked it up." I twist free and duck under his arm. "Where the hell were you five resets ago?"

The woman takes a step closer. Her boots scrape concrete. "Mara," she says again, and the way she shapes my name makes my teeth hurt. "I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to retrieve what you stole."

"I didn't steal anything," I snap. "A dead man dropped it."

"And you picked it up." She tilts her head. "That's theft enough."

Cade shifts in front of me, one hand still on his gun.