Chapter 22 · Subject displays elevated heart rate

He nodded to the corner. I hadn't even seen the other man - the scribe with the glass recorder, the one who never blinks. The red light was on. Recording.

"Subject displays elevated heart rate," Augustus said, loud enough for the glass. "Subject shows signs of dual cardiac rhythm under stress. Proceeding to stimulus."

"Stimulus?" I said. "What stimulus?"

"This." He pressed the tip of the scalpel right over my sternum, over my shirt. Not cutting. Yet. Just pressure. Right where the thread ran under my skin. "If I push here, what happens? Does he jump? Does he scream?"

"Touch me and I'll bite you," I said. It came out thin. My breath was too fast.

"You will?" He smiled again. That terrible, patient smile. "Fierce little surgeon. Always biting. That's why you lost your license, isn't it? You bit the wrong hand."

Cassian's voice dropped low, right against my spine. You have to drop your heart rate. Now. He can hear both of us if you panic.

How? I thought. He's got a knife on my chest.

Give me control, he said. For ten seconds. Trust me.

Like hell, I thought.

Sylvia.