Chapter 26 · Move away from her

The door exploded inward.

Two guards rushed through the smoke. Kael shoved Sera behind him and drew a short pistol from beneath his coat. He fired twice. One guard dropped. The other slammed into a console and knocked loose a shower of sparks.

Oren stepped through the opening with a rifle raised.

"Move away from her," he ordered.

Kael stood between them. "Still hiding behind soldiers, Oren?"

"Still hiding behind a weapon you built?"

"You always did need someone else to pull the trigger."

Oren's mouth twisted. "Sera, look at him. Ask him who chose your body for the Core. Ask him who signed the transfer order."

Sera's attention snapped to Kael.

"Did you sign it?"

Kael didn't answer.

Oren smiled. "There it is."

"Kael."

"I signed a transport order."

"For me?"

"For a classified subject. I didn't know the subject was you."

"You knew enough to sign."

"I knew the council was moving a fighter into a restricted lab. I didn't know they had taken you from the prison convoy."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"No. I expect you to check the record."

Oren raised the rifle higher. "There won't be a record when the Core opens.