Chapter 26 · Don't Trust the Alarm

Keira's throat still burned. The air in the corridor tasted like metal and chemical residue, and every breath scraped going down. Taren was two steps behind her, close enough that she could hear his breathing. Too close.

She'd pocketed the data chip before he pulled her out of that room. He didn't see. He couldn't have seen.

But the last line was burned into her retinas. NEXT CLEANUP TARGET—TAREN VEX.

"Keira." His voice cut through the ringing in her ears. "What did you see?"

She kept walking. The emergency lighting made everything look wrong, shadows too long, corners too sharp. Her fingers found the chip in her pocket. Small. Hard. Evidence of something, but she didn't know what yet.

"Keira. Stop."

She stopped. Turned. Taren's face was unreadable in the red glow, but his posture was wrong. Shoulders tight. Hands loose at his sides. Combat ready.

"What was on that terminal?" he asked.

Her pulse kicked. "List of targets."

"Targets for what?"

"Cleanup." She watched his face. Nothing moved. "Your name was on it."

Silence. Then: "Show me."

"Can't. Terminal's dead."

"You pulled data. I know you did." He took a step closer. "Let me see it.