Chapter 29 · The Hold Stays Shut

"ATF first unit is on the property." The loft radio crackled against my ear, then went dead.

I froze with one hand on the steel rail and the other clamped around the evidence box. Below us, the sealed vault door sat under a skin of cold condensation. Knox had one palm braced beside my shoulder, trapping me between his body and the rail.

"Say that again," I snapped.

The radio hissed.

No answer.

Knox leaned in, his breath hot against the side of my neck. "You heard it."

"I heard a broken transmission." I shoved my elbow back. It caught his ribs, hard enough to make him grunt. "Move."

He didn't.

The fire-control loft was barely wide enough for both of us and the old control cabinet. Pipes crowded the ceiling. Red emergency strips blinked over the sealed vault below, washing his face in hard flashes of light. His shirt was still torn at the shoulder from the last fight, exposing a strip of skin and the dark bruise my fingers had left there.

His eyes dropped to my mouth.

I hated that I noticed.

"You don't get to pin me up here and then act surprised when I hit