Chapter 23 · Half a Code

"Move." Knox didn't look up from the wires. "Now, Rhea."

Sparks jumped off the relay panel and died on the wet concrete an inch from his boots. His hands were bare, wrapped around two stripped copper ends, and the muscle in his jaw was working like he was chewing on the pain instead of feeling it.

"Move where?" I had the tray against my chest, both arms locked around it like it might grow legs and run.

"Door panel. Outside the vault. There's a secondary keypad under the fire box." He jerked his chin toward the corridor. "Countdown's on the wall behind you. When it hits sixty, the foam line arms itself. I can't let go of this to stop it and reach that panel at the same time."

I turned. Red numbers, cold and small, ticking down from one-fifty-eight. My stomach dropped somewhere near my boots.

"Give me the code."

His eyes cut to mine. For one second — one full second, which is a long time when a man's hands are live-wired to a fire override — he looked like he'd rather eat the code than say it out loud.

"Six-one-four—