Chapter 13 · Detain Keira Morris

Taren came around the corner fast, rifle up, and stopped.

Two bodies. Blood spreading across the polished floor in slow, dark rivers. Rian slumped against the wall, one hand pressed to his side, the other raised like he could stop what was about to happen. And Keira, standing three feet from the bodies, hands empty, breathing hard.

She made herself freeze. Made herself look small.

"Don't move." Taren's voice was flat. Cold. The rifle stayed on her center mass.

Keira lifted her hands. Slow. Palms out. She let her shoulders shake. Just a little. Enough to sell it.

"I didn't—" Her voice cracked. Good. "We heard the shots. We came to—"

"I said don't move." Taren took two steps forward. His eyes tracked the blood, the bodies, the encryption key lying next to the dead officer's hand. Then back to her. "On your knees. Now."

She dropped. The floor was cold under her shins. Blood was close enough she could smell it, copper and heat and the faint ozone stink of plasma discharge.

Rian tried to push off the wall. "Taren, listen—"

"Shut up, Cole." Taren didn't look at him.