Chapter 36 · The Next Switch

"Don't touch that release."

Dean caught my wrist before my fingers reached the emergency panel.

His grip landed over the tape around my knuckles. Pain shot up my arm. I looked down at his hand, then back at his face.

"Let go."

"Burn the last manual cycle and we lose the airlock terminal."

"You already burned it."

His jaw tightened. "We burned it."

The panel still showed the same dead red bar.

SINGLE-USE AUTHORIZATION: EXHAUSTED.

The airlock was sealed. The backup terminal was on the other side. The leak file was still alive, counting down somewhere beyond that door.

No second key. No override. No clean way to get inside and erase the file before the bunker seal finished cycling.

I twisted hard. Bone hit bone. Dean's hold slipped, and I drove my shoulder into his chest.

He hit the steel door with a rough grunt. The frame shook. His hand came up fast, caught my collar, and dragged me close enough for our breaths to slam together.

"You trying to break my arm?" he asked.

"I'm trying to delete the file you wrote."

"I wrote a threat."

"With my name in it."

His thumb pressed against the bruise beneath my collar. Not hard enough to hurt.