Chapter 26 · Dual Synapse

"Move!" Kane slammed his shoulder into mine as the eight-legged mech punched through the ceiling.

Steel pipes came down where my head had been. One clipped my arm and spun me across the maintenance platform. My back hit the rail. The combat core in my spine screamed so hard my teeth locked together.

A red targeting cross appeared on my chest.

Kane saw it before I did. He grabbed the front of my jacket and yanked me down.

The mech's cannon fired.

The platform behind us vanished in a burst of white heat.

"You keep doing that," I snapped, coughing through the smoke, "and I'm going to start thinking you care."

"You can think after we live."

"That was almost sweet."

He shoved me behind a support column as rounds chewed through the metal around us. The mech crawled over the broken ceiling, eight jointed legs digging into concrete and cable trays. Its armored body filled the gap above us. Black plating. Corporate kill markings. A rotating red lens where a face should have been.

The neural link between us kicked with every movement.

His fear hit me first.

Not fear of dying.