Chapter 39 · The Key She Didn't Ask For

"Don't take your hand off it." Torin's voice came out flat, low, like he was talking a jumper off a ledge. His palm was still crushing mine against the scanner plate, both of us frozen mid-turn, and the little red light over the vault kept pulsing like it was laughing at us.

"It's locked, Torin. The system paused. Taking my hand off it isn't going to un-pause anything."

"Maybe it resets the conflict flag." He didn't believe that either. I could hear it.

Petrie was three feet away with the phone still pressed to his ear, and his face had gone the color of old drywall. "Say that again," he said into it. Not to us. To whoever was on the other end wrecking our night.

"Aldous." I said his name like a slap. "What did she do."

He held up one finger. I wanted to break it.

"Eight forty-one," he finally said, lowering the phone an inch. "The vote closed at eight forty-one. Seventeen minutes before you two engaged the locks.