Chapter 28 · Grab

"That's not Renn." Dean's hand clamped my wrist so hard the radio nearly dropped. "Ellis. That's not Renn."

The countdown tone died mid-beat, chopped off like someone had put a hand over its mouth. Then the static cracked open into a voice, layered under every dead channel in the bunker at once, bleeding out of speakers that shouldn't even have power.

"—citywide, all units, all frequencies, this is Commissioner Voss—"

My stomach dropped through the floor.

"He's got the tower." I was already moving, knees skidding on concrete, hands slamming the board like I could choke it back to life. Dead. Every channel dead except the one playing Voss's voice like a recording nobody asked for. "He's on citywide. That's my board, Dean, that's my channel, he doesn't—"

"He's not on your board." Dean's voice had gone flat, cop-flat, the tone he used on perps and rookies. "He's above it. He's on the tower feed. Renn gave him the key."

"Renn gave him the—" I stopped. My hands were shaking, and it wasn't the dose this time, or not only the dose. "He said ninety seconds. He said he'd compress it. He didn't say he was handing the whole board to Voss."

"Maybe he didn't have a choice."

"Everybody's got a choice.