Chapter 16 · The Thing in the Tank

The gun's an inch from Marcus's face and he doesn't even blink.

No fear. No surprise. Like he's been waiting three days for me to finally point it at him.

"You knew." My arm's still shaking off the burnout, muscles twitching where the rune scorched through. "You knew Zero would be here. You sent me in blind."

"I knew it was possible." Marcus steps around the barrel like it's a coat rack, walks straight to the console, starts pulling files. "The tagging system isn't perfect. Sometimes subjects retain fragments of the old identity."

Subjects.

I want to put a hole through the monitor just to watch him flinch. "He remembered me, Marcus."

"Muscle memory. Conditioning residue." He doesn't look up. "You were his CO for two years. Patterns like that don't erase clean."

"He said her name."

That stops him. His hand freezes over the keyboard like it's live wire.

"He called me Sparrow." My voice cracks on the word. "Only one person on this planet ever called me that."

He turns. First time since he kicked my door in — he looks old. Tired. Human, almost.

"Ivy—"

"Don't." The rune flares hot under my skin.