Chapter 32 · Untitled Chapter

Marcus is still talking when I fire two rounds into the spot where his gun used to be.

He dives left. Concrete spits across the tunnel. Ash hits the floor behind me, blood spreading beneath his vest, and I can't spare a glance to see how bad it is.

"Pull that trigger again," Marcus shouts from behind a support beam, "and every sample in the network goes active. Every carrier. You included."

I keep my gun trained on the beam. My hand stays steady. Too steady.

The rune under my skin hasn't burned in thirty seconds. It only sits there, warm and watchful, waiting for me to make the wrong move.

"You're bluffing."

"Two-stage failsafe." His voice bounces off the tunnel walls. "If I die, the second core wakes up. Fire again, and it reads you as hostile. Dormant strands go live."

"Then why aren't you shooting?"

The silence that follows tells me more than his answer would have.

I step forward. Glass crunches beneath my boot. Blue light crawls from my wrist toward my elbow, dragging my pulse and aim into some invisible system.

Lyra called the gun a bridge.