Chapter 11 · The Last Memory

"You signed the kill order." Eli shoved the glowing contract in front of my face as the train bucked beneath us. "So tell me why you just tried to save the people it was designed to sacrifice."

I caught the tablet before it slid off the control panel. Red text crawled across the screen.

CONTRACT ACTIVE. PRIMARY TARGET: MAYOR CYRUS QUINN. FAILURE CONDITION: CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ACCEPTABLE.

My fingers went cold.

"I didn't sign this."

Eli grabbed the back of my coat and yanked me away from the panel as sparks burst from the ceiling. His chest slammed into my shoulder. Heat pressed through both our jackets, too close and too solid, while the train screamed through the tunnel.

"Your handprint's on it," he said against my ear. "Your voice approved it. Your neural key opened it. How many more ways do you need this to be yours?"

"I need one way to prove it isn't."

"Then stop fighting the evidence."

"Stop holding me like I'm going to run."

His grip tightened for half a second.

"You keep running toward the worst possible choice."

"And you keep showing up with a gun and calling yourself my rescue plan."

"It worked before."