Chapter 9 · Past the Muzzle

“Don’t move.”

The gun pressed under my jaw before I could turn.

Eli’s voice had gone flat. Not angry. Worse. Empty.

I looked over my shoulder. Blood had soaked through the bandage at his ribs, but his hand stayed steady. The barrel dug into my skin hard enough to make swallowing hurt.

“You reset,” he said.

“I noticed.”

“What do you remember?”

“You pointing a gun at me.” I lifted my hands slowly. “Should I make a list?”

Behind me, the dead prediction core flashed white across its screens.

RESET COMPLETE.

The neural key pulsed blue inside the glass, bright and trapped, like a heartbeat that didn’t belong to me.

Then the alarms started screaming above us.

Eli’s jaw tightened. “How long?”

“How long until your terrible plan gets boring?”

“Mara.”

“You told me if I remembered the rain, you had to kill me.” I kept my voice low, even with my pulse slamming against the muzzle. “Now you’ve got me underground, the city’s locking down, and you’re aiming at my face. I’d say the contract’s going great.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

“Then ask a better one.”

His finger shifted against the trigger guard.

Not on the trigger.

Close enough.