Chapter 11 · Rian's Other Job

Keira found Rian behind the equipment shed, doubled over with one hand braced against the corrugated metal wall. Blood dripped from his mouth onto the gravel.

She'd been cutting through the back route to avoid the main quad when she heard someone retching. Now she stood three meters away, every instinct screaming at her to walk away. Rian Cole was a fellow human trainee and nothing more. Whatever this was, it wasn't her problem.

Then he coughed again and more blood came up. He turned his head and looked straight at her. His eyes were wrong. Not panicked. Resigned.

"Shit," Keira said. She closed the distance and grabbed his shoulder. "What happened? Did someone—"

"Failsafe." His voice came out wet and thick. He spat red into the gravel. "I missed two check-ins. Protocol."

Her hand went cold. Failsafe meant poison. Timed release or remote trigger. Military or intelligence work. She'd seen it before. "You need med bay. Now."

"No point." Rian slid down the wall until he was sitting in the dirt. He pulled his sleeve up. Three small puncture marks formed a triangle on his inner forearm, angry red and swollen. "Happens in about ten minutes.