Chapter 6 · Under the Tracks

The locks popped before Nora could grab the handle.

Cold air punched into the car from both sides. The back door on Caden's side swung open. Her own door followed a second later.

Then Milo's voice came through the speakers again.

"Nora, don't let him shut the door. Don't let him—"

The sound snapped into static.

Caden moved fast. One hand hit the lock controls. The other caught Nora across the chest before she could throw herself out after a voice that might not even be real.

"Don't," he said.

"Get off me."

"Not until you stop trying to jump out of a moving car."

The car was slowing, not moving. That almost made it worse.

They had stopped beside an old maintenance fence behind a shuttered subway entrance. No streetlights. No commuters. Just wet concrete, bent chain-link, and a black stairwell dropping under the city like somebody had cut a hole straight into hell.

Nora shoved at Caden's arm. His shirt sleeve was dark with blood near the shoulder. She had noticed it before.