Chapter 3

I grabbed Eli's coat. "You said the tunnel was clear."

"It was clear twelve seconds ago."

"That's not the same thing!"

"Good. You can still count. Stay close."

He caught my wrist and dragged me into the service corridor. My boots skidded over broken glass. Behind us, three black drones dropped through the hole in the ceiling, red targeting lights sweeping across the walls.

The stolen neural key burned against my ribs beneath my jacket.

Not hot. Worse.

It pulsed with my heartbeat, then tugged hard behind my eyes.

I stumbled.

Eli spun. I crashed into his chest, and his hand locked around my waist before my skull met the wall.

"What happened?"

"The key."

"Where is it?"

I glared at him. "Inside my coat, genius."

His jaw tightened. "What did it do?"

A drone fired.

Eli shoved me down and took the impact across his shoulder. He grunted, twisted, and fired twice. One drone dropped. The other two swung toward us.

"It showed me something," I said.

"Later. Run now."

"You keep saying that like you're not the reason I'm running."

"I'm the reason you're still breathing."

"You kidnapped me."

"And you were about to be arrested for a murder you haven't committed yet. You're welcome."

He hauled me through a steel door and slammed it shut. The lock clicked.

For half a second, there was only our breathing. My shoulder stung where he'd grabbed me. His coat smelled like gunpowder and cold metal.

Then the drones hit the door.

The entire frame jumped.

Eli checked the lock, then looked at me. "We have thirty seconds. Maybe less."

"You're always this cheerful?"

"Only around people who shoot me in the future."

My stomach dropped. "I didn't shoot you."

"The monitor showed your face. Your hand. My blood on the floor. Want to argue with the footage?"

"I want to know why a machine is showing you edited nightmares."

The key pulsed again.

Blue light crawled across my palm. It formed a thin circle around my wrist, then vanished beneath my skin.

I sucked in a breath. "Get it out."

Eli stepped closer. "I can't."

"You stole it. Take it back."

"It's attached to you now."

"Then cut off my hand."

His eyes dropped to my wrist. His fingers closed around it, firm but careful. Heat spread from his palm into mine.

The key answered with a thin tone inside my skull.

Eli went still.

"What?" I demanded.

"It recognizes both of us."

"That's not an answer."

"It's a memory lock. Two signatures. One anchor."

"Use normal words."

"If we separate, it starts eating your memory faster."

The door buckled behind us.

I stared at him. "How fast?"

"Fast enough that you won't remember your own name before sunrise."

"And you knew this?"

"I knew the key needed a second nervous system. I didn't know it would pick me."

"It didn't pick you. You forced it into my hand."

"And now you need me."

The words hit harder than they should've.

I yanked my wrist free.

The key flashed. Pain snapped through my skull, bright and clean. I caught myself against the wall.

Eli grabbed my shoulders. "Don't fight the connection."

"Don't touch me."

"Then stop trying to tear yourself apart."

"You don't get to order me around."

"I do when your death is tied to my pulse."

He shoved up his sleeve.

A black line ran from his wrist toward his elbow. It matched the mark beneath my skin.

I stared at it. "That wasn't there before."

"No. It wasn't."

"If I die?"

His eyes held mine. "The key resets you. Twelve minutes. Every time."

"And you?"

"I feel it happen."

The drones struck the door again. Dust rained from the ceiling.

Eli leaned close, his breath warm against my cheek. "We sign the lock, or we both get trapped here."

"Sign what?"

He pulled a small blade from his belt and cut his thumb. A bright bead of blood gathered there.

Then he held it above the glowing mark on my wrist.

"A memory-binding contract."

I laughed once. It came out thin. "You expect me to sign a contract with your blood?"

"No. The key signs for us. We only give it permission."

"What does it take?"

"A shared memory. One you choose."

"And if I don't choose?"

"The key chooses for you."

Another impact shook the door. The hinges screamed.

I stepped into him and pressed two fingers to his chest. His heartbeat kicked against my hand, hard and steady.

"You planned this," I said.

"I planned to steal the key. I didn't plan to become its other half."

"You always have an excuse."

"You always have a weapon."

"I still have one."

His gaze flicked to the knife at my belt. "I know."

"Then don't corner me."

"Mara, the door is coming down. Pick a memory."

"Why do you care if I lose one? You said I hired you to kill the mayor. If I forget that, your job gets easier."

His expression shifted. Barely.

His thumb pressed harder against my wrist.

"You didn't hire me to kill the mayor," he said.

"You said I did."

"I said the contract came from you. That's different."

"Not to the person being hunted."

"Your signature was on it. Your voice approved it. Your face opened the file."

"I don't remember any of that."

"That's the problem."

The door split down the middle.

Eli pulled me into the narrow space between his body and the wall. His arm braced beside my head. His coat brushed my shoulder, and the heat of him pressed through the layers between us.

Too close.

Close enough to count every breath.

"Give it a memory," he said.

"You first."

"Fine. I remember the first time I saw you."

"That sounds fake."

"You were stealing a police bike."

"Borrowing."

"You kicked a cop in the knee."

"He deserved it."

"You looked straight at me and told me to mind my own business."

"You were following me."

"I was deciding whether to kill you."

My pulse jumped. "And?"

"I decided to wait."

The lock flared between us.

Blue light ran from his wrist to mine.

The key spoke inside my head in a voice made of static.

MEMORY OFFER REQUIRED.

I tried to pull away.

Eli caught the back of my neck. Not rough. Not gentle, either. Just impossible to ignore.

"Choose," he said.

"Get your hand off me."

"Choose, Mara."

The drones screeched as they cut through the door. Eli's breathing brushed my cheek. His thumb rested at the base of my skull.

Then a memory rose before I could stop it.

A kitchen table.

A chipped yellow mug.

A woman laughing while she burned toast.

My mother.

The image shattered.

I reached for it, but nothing came back. Not her face. Not her voice. Not even the color of her shirt.

I shoved Eli away. "No."

The key pulsed.

He caught me before I hit the opposite wall. "What did it take?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie."

"I said nothing!"

"Your eyes changed."

"Maybe they're tired of looking at you."

He held my face between both hands. His palms were warm. His thumbs stopped just short of my cheekbones.

"Mara. Tell me."

I slapped one hand away. He didn't release the other.

"I can't remember my mother," I whispered.

The words hurt worse once they were out.

Eli's grip loosened.

"What was her name?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"What did she sound like?"

"I don't know."

"What did she look like?"

I shoved at his chest. "Stop asking!"

He let me push him back, but his fingers stayed wrapped around mine. The black line on his wrist brightened.

"The key took it," he said.

"I know what it did."

"Then stop pretending you're fine."

"Why? So you can use it against me?"

"I already have everything I need against you. The city wants you dead. The network has your face on every screen. And I have a contract with your name on it."

"Then why are you still here?"

He looked down at our joined hands.

"Because you keep dying before I can get the truth."

The door blew inward.

Eli twisted and dragged me down as metal shards ripped through the corridor. A squad of armored officers poured in behind the drones. Their helmets displayed the same white symbol I'd seen on the murder alert.

PREDICTED THREAT.

A voice boomed through their speakers. "Mara Vale, drop to your knees. Eli Rook, release the civilian."

I coughed through the dust. "Civilian? That's insulting."

"You want to complain later?" Eli asked.

"I want a gun."

He shoved one into my hand.

I stared at him. "You trust me with this?"

"No. I trust you hate being arrested more than you hate me."

"Barely."

He grabbed my hand again.

The connection tightened. A sharp blue ring closed around both our wrists.

The key flashed a warning across my vision.

MEMORY LINK: ACCEPT.

Beneath it, smaller letters appeared.

COST: ONE MEMORY FROM EACH SUBJECT.

"There," Eli said. "It wants permission. Say yes."

"What memory will it take from you?"

"Doesn't matter."

"That's not an answer."

"If we stay, they take everything."

An officer stepped over the broken door. "Last warning!"

I raised the gun. Eli's shoulder pressed against mine. His cheek nearly touched my temple.

"If I say yes, we're bound?" I asked.

"Until the key is destroyed."

"If I run?"

"It drags me with you."

"If you betray me?"

"You feel it."

"And if I betray you?"

His mouth came close to my ear. "I feel that too."

The heat of his breath crawled over my neck. I hated that I noticed.

I hated more that he noticed me noticing.

"You're enjoying this," I muttered.

"You're holding my hand."

"I'm holding a weapon."

"Both can be true."

The officers lifted their rifles.

Eli's fingers tightened around mine. "Mara. Now."

I looked at the blue ring.

Then at him.

"Yes," I said.

The key drove a needle of pain through my skull.

Eli sucked in a breath at the same time. Our vision filled with white numbers.

TWELVE MINUTES.

ONE PULSE.

ONE LOCK.

The officers fired.

Eli kicked a fallen shield into the path of the bullets and pulled me through a maintenance hatch. We hit the cramped utility shaft shoulder to shoulder, our knees pressed against the opposite wall.

The hatch slammed above us.

"You could've warned me," I snapped.

"You said yes. I assumed you understood the word."

"I understood the part where you made me sign my life away."

"You were going to lose your mind in that corridor."

"Maybe I should've. At least then I wouldn't remember trusting you."

He went quiet.

The key glowed beneath my jacket. A thin line of light connected it to the mark on his wrist.

I lowered my voice. "What did it take from you?"

"A name."

"Whose?"

He looked at me. "My brother's."

I had no answer ready. That annoyed me.

"You had a brother?"

"Had."

"What happened?"

"You don't get that memory."

"I didn't ask for it."

"You asked what the key stole."

Boots crossed the metal floor above us. The shaft trembled with every step.

I leaned closer. "And you still want to finish the mayor contract?"

"I want to know why you sent it."

"I didn't."

"Then help me prove it."

"How?"

His knee touched mine in the narrow space. There was no room to move away, and the key had made every inch between us feel charged.

"The key records intent," he said. "It caught a future command from you. If we access the archive, we can see who used your identity."

"You mean break into the network."

"Yes."

"The entire city is hunting me."

"Then stop acting surprised."

"You're unbelievably bad at making allies."

"You're still here."

"Because your contract is keeping me alive."

"Tell yourself that."

I pushed one finger into his chest. "Don't confuse survival with trust."

His eyes dropped to my mouth for half a second.

Then he looked away.

That tiny pause hit harder than the gunfire.

The key chimed.

ARCHIVE ACCESS FOUND.

A red symbol appeared in the air between us.

CITY PREDICTION NETWORK.

TARGET: MAYOR ANTON VOSS.

TIME OF DEATH: 00:00.

"Midnight," I said.

Eli reached for the projection. "That's not a prediction. It's a scheduled event."

"Can you stop it?"

"Not from here."

"Then where?"

The display shifted.

A second image formed beneath the target file.

A security clip.

A marble room. A body falling beside a long black table. The camera swung toward the killer, and my own face appeared on the screen.

I stared at it. "That's impossible."

Eli's hand closed around mine.

On the recording, the woman wearing my face lifted a weapon toward the mayor and said, "You should've killed me when you had the chance."

I turned to Eli. "Why am I standing over Anton Voss with a—"