Chapter 22 · Dead Rail

"Keep your head down!" Kane shoved me flat as the turret opened fire.

Rounds ripped across the broken maglev roof. Metal screamed beside my cheek. A shard of rail punched through my jacket and scraped skin from my shoulder.

I jammed my palm against the roof and pushed up. "You said the guns were blind."

"They were."

"They look pretty awake to me."

Kane grabbed the back of my harness and yanked me down again. His body covered mine for half a second, heat pressing through two layers of soaked combat gear. His breath hit my ear, sharp and fast.

"Argue later. Move now."

Another burst chewed through the roof where my head had been.

The maglev line had split open beneath us. One train car hung nose-down over the flooded trench, its windows blown out, its emergency lights blinking red through the spray. The next car sat twenty feet ahead, tilted hard to the left. Between them was nothing but twisted track and a drop full of live power rails.

Behind us, the kill squad climbed over the wreckage.

I saw three armored mechs first. Then six.