Chapter 22 · Take Her Alive

The lockdown alarm punched through the walls like a physical thing. Keira was already moving.

She didn't run for the exit. She ran for the terminal still glowing with her dead name.

GHOST SEVEN: CONFIRMED.

Three keystrokes. The screen went black. Not good enough. She ripped the data core out of the socket, stripped two wires, crossed them. The smell of burning silicon hit her nose as the core sparked and died in her hand.

Footsteps in the corridor. Not one set. A squad.

She turned. The window behind her faced the east training yard. Three stories down. Grass below. Doable. She could be over the perimeter fence in ninety seconds. Gone in five minutes.

Then the secondary alarm kicked in. Different pitch. Not lockdown.

Evacuation.

Her heart stopped.

She knew that sound. Explosive device detected. Automated response. Clear the blast radius.

The yard below wasn't empty anymore. Trainees were spilling out of the barracks, confused, some still pulling on boots. Instructors shouting. No one knew where the device was. They were just running.

Keira's eyes went to the admin wing across the yard.