Chapter 38 · Is this safe?

He tore the gauntlet free.

The trooper's fingers snapped shut on empty air.

Reid stepped into the tunnel and pulled the panel closed behind him.

Leo was already moving through the narrow passage. Pipes pressed close on both sides. Cables hung from the ceiling at head height.

"Is this safe?" Leo asked.

"No."

"Could you lie once in a while?"

"Not usefully."

Behind them, metal shrieked. The troopers were forcing the panel open.

Mira's voice followed through a small speaker somewhere in the tunnel. "Left at the split."

Reid stopped. "You can access the service system?"

"I can access some of it."

"You said you were coming into the room."

"I am."

"Then why are you guiding us through a wall?"

"Because your friends in armor locked me out of the main controls."

Leo looked back. "She's trapped too?"

"Don't start feeling sorry for her."

"I wasn't."

Mira said, "You should both keep moving."

"You don't get to say both," Reid replied. "You put Leo in the same cage as me."

"I didn't put him there. The retrieval team did."

"You command the retrieval team."

"Not all of them."

"Convenient."

"You want answers? Keep walking.