Chapter 12 · Underground Deal

"Get your hands off me, you psycho!" Mira spat, her voice echoing off the damp concrete of the tunnel.

Reid didn't let go. He had her wrist pinned against the wall, his fingers digging into the skin just enough to let her know he wasn't playing. He leaned in, his breath hot against her ear, the smell of ozone and old rain clinging to them both.

"You're going to tell me exactly where the real Reid Cross is," he low-growled. "And you're going to do it before I decide your corporate badge is the only thing worth saving about you."

Mira let out a sharp, jagged laugh. She tried to twist away, but he shifted his weight, pressing his chest against her shoulder, cutting off her exit. "You think you're the only one playing a role? The guy who hired me—the *real* you—he doesn't want a chat. He wants a corpse. Specifically, yours."

"Why?"

"Because you're a glitch, honey. A mistake in the system that shouldn't exist." She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with a mix of fear and something that looked dangerously like fascination. "But you're not a glitch, are you? You're something else.