Chapter 28 · Untitled Chapter

"Get up. Now!"

Kade didn't ask. He barked. He hauled me off the scorched floor by my collar, his grip tight enough to leave bruises. My ears were ringing—a high-pitched whine that drowned out everything but my own ragged breathing. Dust and ozone filled my throat. Tasted like burnt copper.

I shoved his hand away and scrambled up, coughing.

"The files," I gasped, spinning around. "Kade, the drive—where the hell is it?"

The lab was gone. Not damaged. *Gone.* The central console, the only copy of my mother's files, the truth about the Protocol... all of it was a twisted skeleton of blackened steel and shattered glass.

"Tell me it's still there," I demanded. I lunged at him, fingers digging into the heavy fabric of his jacket. "You said you had the override! You said we could save the data!"

Kade didn't move. He was staring at the void where the core used to be. His face was cold stone, but his chest was heaving. He looked like a man who'd just watched his last hope evaporate.

"It's gone, Maya," he said. His voice was vacant. Broken. "The purge didn't just clear the carriers. It wiped the server. Everything.