Chapter 37 · We have incoming pressure

The door took another blast. The frame bent deeper. A warning strip flashed along the wall.

The squad leader looked toward it. "We have incoming pressure."

Mira said, "All units, stand down."

The troopers hesitated.

"You heard her," Reid said.

The leader turned his helmet toward the nearest camera. "Director, the asset is still resisting."

"I said stand down."

The rifles lowered by a few inches.

Not enough.

Reid pulled once.

The lattice tightened around Leo.

The boy made a small, terrified sound.

"Stop!" Mira snapped.

Reid froze.

There it was. Real fear in her voice. Not the polished kind she used for cameras. The sharp kind that slipped out before she could bury it.

He looked at the speaker. "You care."

"Don't make this about me."

"You made it about control."

"Reid, if you keep testing the system, Leo will be the one who pays."

"Then open the cage."

"I need you to lower your current first."

"Tell me how."

"Stop holding it in your hands."

Reid felt the Current gathered beneath his skin, thin and restless. "It doesn't work like that."

"It does here. You're feeding the field every time you brace against it.