Chapter 10 · The Hold Does Not Open

"Boots on the ground. Take Ward alive."

The speaker spits it out flat, no static this time, and it lands on me like a hand closing around the back of my neck. I know that box. It's the tac feed Harlan patched through an hour ago so we'd hear precinct chatter. It was never supposed to say my name.

"Say that again," I tell the console, like it can hear me.

Dean's already moving. He doesn't ask what I heard. He crosses the bunker in two steps, one hand flat on my sternum, backing me off the board like I weigh nothing.

"Don't." I shove the hand off. "That's my board. I'm not hiding behind you because some voice on a scanner used my last name."

"They didn't use your last name, Ellis." His jaw's tight, the muscle in it jumping. "They used your rank. Board operator. Badge number. Current location. That's not a beat cop guessing. That's somebody with our roster."

The roster. The master key. My stomach drops through the floor.

"The key," I say. "Somebody used the swapped key to pull personnel files."

Dean's already at the panel, flipping the feed to the airlock camera. Four bodies in black kit, no precinct patches, stacked outside the outer hatch like they've done this before.