Chapter 14 · Not Converted

"Hands where I can see them!" The door hit the wall so hard the hinges screamed, and I was already moving, shoulder first, putting Levi's exam table between me and four rifles.

"Stand down." Levi's voice cracked out flat, no shake in it at all, like he hadn't just had his hand on my throat two seconds ago. "This is my lab. Nobody comes in here without my clearance."

"Clearance's revoked, Doctor." The squad leader stepped over the threshold, visor up, eyes locked on the little blinking screen still hooked to my arm. "Command flagged a kill-priority the second that sample hit the network. We're not here for permission."

My arm. The needle was still in it. I yanked it free, didn't even feel the sting, blood running warm down my wrist while I backed into the wall.

"Kill-priority on what." Levi didn't move from where he was standing, didn't put his hands up, didn't do anything a man's supposed to do with four guns on him. "You want to tell me what protocol lets you kick my door in."

"Sokolov bloodline." The leader said it like a verdict, not a name. "Confirmed twenty minutes ago. Command's orders —