Chapter 33 · Four Minutes to the Tower

"Get your hands off the brake!" Dorian shouted.

"Then stop driving us into the mountain!"

The armored train slammed into another turn. My shoulder cracked against the cab wall, and Dorian caught the front of my coat before my skull met steel. His fist locked around the fabric, hot and bruising.

Behind us, metal screamed.

The forward guns were moving.

Not with the train. Against it.

Dorian shoved me down as a burst of fire ripped across the cab windows. Glass sprayed over my back. The control board flashed red, then died.

"Someone took the guns," I said.

"I noticed."

"Want credit?"

His eyes cut to mine. "I want you alive. For the next thirty seconds, try not to make that difficult."

"You signed my death order. Don't get precious now."

His jaw tightened. "I signed the order that came through my command. I didn't write it."

"That excuse gets weaker every time you use it."

"Good. Keep hating me. It means you're still thinking."

A second volley punched through the armored roof. Sparks rained over the dead controls.

Dorian shoved away from me and dropped beneath the console.