Chapter 31 · Breaking the Cage

"Reid, move!" Mira slammed both hands into his chest just as the glass pod split open.

The impact drove him back three steps. A sheet of white-blue light tore across the lab, hot enough to sting his face. Behind it, Leo's hand reached through the broken pod wall, fingers shaking, skin glowing like a live wire under paper.

"Get him out!" Reid snapped.

"I'm trying!"

Mira grabbed Leo's wrist. The second her glove touched him, black veins of light raced up her arm.

She cursed and let go. "That wasn't in the brief."

"You made the brief."

"I made the part they let me see. Big difference."

The lab alarm changed pitch. Red strips flashed along the ceiling. Somewhere beyond the sealed blast doors, heavy boots hit the floor in a fast, ugly rhythm.

Reid turned toward the sound. "How long?"

"Until the response team gets here? Ninety seconds. Maybe less."

"Then stop talking."

He stepped into the broken pod.

The light hit him hard. It crawled over his arms, slipped under his collar, and pressed against his ribs like a second heartbeat. His knees almost buckled, but he locked them.

Leo's face twisted behind the fractured glass.