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The rifle butt slammed into Evelyn Hart's ribs before she got three steps.
She hit the concrete hard, lost her grip on the black case, and heard glass crack inside it.
"Get up, runner!"
"Go to hell."
The guard grabbed the back of her coat and hauled her upright. His respirator hissed against her ear. Beyond him, the market had turned into a stampede. Crates toppled. People shoved through the loading bay. Someone screamed when the first shot punched through the ceiling light.
Evelyn drove her elbow backward.
The guard grunted. His fingers loosened.
She snatched the case and ran.
A second bullet sparked off the steel door beside her head.
"Stop!" a voice shouted behind her. "The cargo stays here!"
"Then come carry it yourself!"
She cut between two stacks of medical drums and nearly tripped over a body.
Not a body. A man.
He lay on his back in a torn gray shirt, one wrist locked to a steel transport cuff. His eyes were closed. His skin looked too pale under the red emergency lights, and a thin line of blood ran from his temple into his hair.
Evelyn stopped for half a second.
That was half a second too long.
A guard rounded the drums with his weapon raised.
"Move away from him!"
Evelyn looked at the unconscious stranger. Then she looked at the black case in her hand.
The case held the lung filter Mika needed. One clean cartridge. Six hours of air if she got it to him before his current filter failed.
The stranger was not her problem.
The guards were.
She grabbed the stranger under the arms and pulled.
He did not move.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Another shot hit the drum behind her. A hot shard of metal cut her cheek.
She hooked both hands under his shoulders and dragged again. His boots scraped across the floor. Dead weight. Absolute dead weight.
"Hey! Gray shirt!" she snapped. "You want to live, start helping!"
His head rolled toward her. His lashes lifted.
His eyes were a sharp, startling blue.
"You always flirt with strangers at gunpoint?" he rasped.
Evelyn stared at him. "You're conscious?"
"Barely. Still counts."
"Then stand up."
"I would love to. My hands are attached to the floor."
The cuff around his wrist flashed red.
Evelyn felt heat bite into the metal at her own wrist.
She looked down.
A thin black band had appeared beneath her sleeve. It hugged her skin like a strip of burned wire. A red line ran through it, pulsing in time with the cuff on the man's wrist.
"What did you do?" she demanded.
"I was unconscious. You tell me."
The guard fired again.
Evelyn dropped over the stranger. The bullet tore through a hanging tarp above them. Dust and plastic flakes rained down.
The man caught her by the waist.
His palm was hot through her jacket. His grip was stronger than it had any right to be, considering he could barely sit up.
"Get off me," she hissed.
"You were about to get shot."
"I noticed."
"You are welcome."
She shoved his hand away and crouched beside him. "Can you walk?"
"Can you unlock this?"
"No."
"Then we have a problem."
"We had a problem when you decided to become cargo."
A burst of gunfire chewed through the drums. Blue-white suppressant foam exploded from a ruptured canister and splattered across the floor.
Evelyn grabbed the cuff and yanked. The band around her wrist flared so hot she almost dropped him.
A pulse slammed through her chest.
For one impossible second, she felt another heartbeat inside her ribs.
Hard. Fast. Furious.
The stranger sucked in a breath at the exact same time.
His back arched against the floor.
Evelyn slapped a hand to her chest. "What the hell was that?"
He stared at her hand. His blue eyes had gone wide.
"Your heart," he said.
"I know where my heart is."
"That wasn't yours."
"Don't make this worse."
"You touched the cuff."
"Because I was trying to save us."
"You linked us."
A guard shouted from behind the drums. "Vale! Do not move! The Authority wants him alive!"
The stranger's expression changed.
The weak, half-dazed look vanished. His jaw tightened. His gaze snapped toward the voice.
"Vale?" Evelyn said. "That's your name?"
"Maybe."
"You don't know your own name?"
"I know I don't like the way you say it."
"Great. We can discuss your identity after we stop bleeding on the floor."
She grabbed the transport cuff again, this time using the edge of her knife. The blade sparked against the lock.
The stranger caught her wrist.
His fingers closed around her pulse.
"Don't cut it."
"Let go."
"If you break the seal, it will trigger the charge."
"There is a charge in your handcuff?"
"There is a charge in both cuffs now."
"You left that part out."
"You didn't ask."
Evelyn twisted, trying to free herself. He pulled her closer instead. Their knees hit. His breath brushed the side of her face, warm and rough with pain.
"Listen to me," he said. "The band on your wrist is reading your pulse. If you get too far away from me, it will react."
"How far?"
His eyes flicked to the red line. "I don't know."
"Not good enough."
"You want accurate? Fine. We stay close until we find a control node."
"And if I don't?"
"Then your heart stops before mine does."
She stared at him.
He did not blink.
Behind them, boots pounded closer.
Evelyn pulled her wrist free with a sharp jerk. "You are going to walk."
"I can't feel my legs."
"Use your arms. Crawl. Roll. I don't care."
"You have a charming bedside manner."
"I am not putting you in a bed."
"Good. I hate hospitals."
She grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him toward the service corridor.
This time, he pushed with one boot.
Not enough to help. Enough to keep from being completely useless.
A guard stepped around the drums.
Evelyn saw the muzzle rise.
"Down!"
She threw herself sideways and pulled Nolan with her. The shot cracked over their heads. He landed on top of her, one forearm braced beside her shoulder.
His face was inches from hers.
His breath caught.
So did hers.
The cuff between them pulsed red again.
His chest hit hers with the force of a hammering heart.
Not an echo this time. She felt every beat through the layers of their clothes.
One. Two. Three.
Too fast.
"Move," she whispered.
"You keep saying that."
"Because you keep lying on me."
"You pulled me down."
"And I can push you back up."
His gaze dropped to her mouth for half a second.
It was barely anything. A mistake. A stupid little pause.
Evelyn felt it anyway.
She shoved his shoulder. "Get off."
He rolled away just as another round hit the floor where his ribs had been.
Evelyn came up on one knee, drew her pistol, and fired twice.
The guard ducked behind the drums.
"That won't hold him," Nolan said.
"I only need three seconds."
"For what?"
She kicked open the service door. "For you to stop talking."
She caught his shirt again and dragged him through.
The corridor was narrow, packed with old pipes and dead control panels. Red lights blinked along the wall. The gunfire followed them through the door.
Nolan stumbled beside her, one hand gripping his cuff, the other pressed to his ribs.
"You stole me," he said.
"I rescued you."
"From a private auction."
"You were being sold."
"That doesn't answer the question."
"You want to go back?"
He looked over his shoulder as a guard kicked through the service door.
"No."
"Then keep up."
They pushed deeper into the corridor.
Nolan's steps grew steadier. The color came back to his face, though blood still darkened his temple.
Evelyn kept the pistol in her right hand and the black case tucked under her left arm. The case's cracked seal flashed yellow.
Mika had four hours left on his filter. Maybe less. The market deal had already gone wrong. She needed a route out, a vehicle, and a miracle.
Instead, she had an amnesiac man with a bomb cuff.
"Your friends are going to be angry," she said.
"I don't remember having friends."
"You have enemies. The ones shooting at us."
"Those I remember."
"Convenient."
"You think I planned this?"
"I think men like you plan everything."
"Men like me?"
"The kind who get locked in steel cuffs and still tell everyone what to do."
His mouth pulled into a humorless smile. "You noticed."
"I notice threats."
"And yet you keep dragging me closer."
"Because if I let go, my heart might stop."
"You could try."
Evelyn stopped.
He stopped with her.
The cuff between them gave a faint electronic chirp.
"Try what?" she asked.
Nolan turned to face her in the cramped corridor. His shoulder nearly brushed the pipe behind him. He was taller than she had first realized, broad enough to block most of the passage. Even injured, he took up space like he owned it.
"Let go," he said.
"You first."
"I can't. The lock is sealed."
"Then stop telling me to do things you can't do."
His eyes stayed on hers. "You have a brother."
Her grip tightened around the pistol.
"Don't talk about him."
"The cartridge in that case is for a pediatric lung filter. Model seventeen. Old stock. Hard to find."
"How do you know that?"
"I know medical equipment."
"You know enough to identify the filter, but not your own name?"
"Apparently."
"Who told you about Mika?"
"Nobody. You said his name while we were in the market."
Evelyn had no memory of saying it. She remembered shouting at the broker. She remembered the guard. She remembered Nolan's weight dragging across the floor.
She did not remember giving him Mika's name.
Nolan leaned closer. "You want that filter delivered. I want this cuff removed. We can help each other."
"You don't get to make deals with me."
"You already made one when you touched the lock."
She lifted the pistol until the muzzle pressed beneath his jaw.
His throat moved against the barrel.
He did not step back.
"Try me," she said.
"You won't shoot."
"You don't know me."
"I know you keep checking the case. I know you hold your breath every time the seal flashes yellow. I know your little brother is running out of air."
Her finger tightened on the trigger.
"Say one more word about him."
"Then shoot me and lose the only person here who can get that filter through the Authority gate."
"You can get through the gate?"
"I can get through things. Gates. Locks. People."
"You sound very sure for a man who can't remember his name."
"I remember how to survive. That's enough."
A heavy impact shook the service door behind them.
Nolan lowered his voice. "Put the gun down."
"No."
"Then keep it pointed at me and listen. There is a maintenance lift at the end of this corridor. It leads to the old transit tunnels."
"And how do you know that?"
"My feet know."
"Your feet?"
"Don't be difficult."
"I'm going to be exactly as difficult as I need to be."
The door buckled.
Nolan reached past the pistol and grabbed the emergency lever beside her head.
Evelyn caught his wrist.
Their bodies locked close in the narrow space. His skin burned against her fingers. The heat from his palm spread up her arm, and the black band on her wrist flared bright red.
Nolan sucked in a breath.
"Let go," he said.
"You first."
"Evelyn."
She froze.
He had said her name like he had used it before.
"How do you know that?"
His stare sharpened. "You have a name tag."
She glanced down at the torn patch on her coat. The letters HART were half covered in dust.
"That's my last name."
"Lucky guess."
"No. Say it again."
The service door tore open.
Nolan yanked the lever.
The maintenance lift doors split apart behind Evelyn. He shoved her backward into the lift and followed, pulling the lever down as bullets punched into the corridor.
The doors slammed shut.
A round struck the metal between them and the guards.
Evelyn hit the rear wall. Nolan crashed into her a second later when the lift dropped.
His hand landed beside her head. His other arm braced across her waist to keep them both upright.
"Move your arm," she said.
"The floor is moving."
"Move it anyway."
"You want to fall?"
"I want you off me."
"You keep saying that like you mean it."
The lift plunged faster.
Evelyn's stomach rose into her throat. Nolan's body pressed against hers, close enough that she could feel each rough breath against her cheek. The cuff's red light crawled across the narrow space between their wrists.
She put one hand against his chest and tried to push.
His heartbeat slammed into her palm.
The same rhythm hit inside her chest.
She pulled her hand away.
"You felt that," he said.
"I felt you trying to crush my fingers."
"Liar."
"Keep calling me that and I will make you regret having a mouth."
His gaze held hers. "You keep threatening me with a gun, a knife, and your hands. Which one do you actually know how to use?"
"All three."
"Good."
The lift stopped so hard their teeth clicked.
Nolan's arm tightened around her waist. His face came within a breath of hers.
For one sharp second, neither moved.
His eyes dropped again.
Evelyn shoved him back with both hands. "Open the door."
"You are welcome."
"For what?"
"Not letting you crack your skull."
"I might have preferred that."
"You say that now."
He turned toward the control panel and drove his cuff against it.
Sparks jumped.
The panel flickered once, then died.
Evelyn stared. "Did you just break the lift?"
"No. I woke it up."
"That makes no sense."
"Neither do you. Keep up."
He kicked the lower hatch open. A ladder dropped into darkness below.
Evelyn looked down. "You first."
"Trust issues?"
"Survival issues."
Nolan lowered himself through the hatch. He paused with one hand on the ladder and looked up at her.
"If I wanted you dead, I could have let the guards take you."
"Maybe they pay better."
"They want me alive. They want you questioned."
"What makes you think I won't answer?"
"Because you brought a gun into a market for a filter you can't afford. You don't look like someone who gives away useful information."
"You have a lot to say for a corpse."
"You keep dragging me like one."
A deep bang rolled through the shaft above them.
Evelyn climbed down.
Nolan caught her ankle when the lift shuddered. His fingers closed around her boot for one steadying second, then slid away.
"Careful," he said.
"Touch me again and lose the hand."
"You really do say that a lot."
She dropped the last two feet and landed in a service tunnel lined with old cable trays.
Nolan stepped down beside her. The second his boots hit the ground, the cuff beeped.
A red symbol appeared on its surface.
He looked at it. "We need to move."
"Why?"
"Because the signal is active."
"What signal?"
"The one calling every Authority hunter in the district."
A blue light blinked far down the tunnel.
Then another.
Then six more.
Evelyn raised her pistol. "Those yours?"
"No."
The lights shifted red.
A mechanical voice crackled from the tunnel speakers.
"Target Vale located. Secondary subject identified as Evelyn Hart. Lethal authorization confirmed."
Evelyn slowly turned toward Nolan.
"They know my name."
"I heard them."
"Why?"
"You tell me."
"You are the one they are hunting."
"And you are the one wearing my cuff."
The tunnel doors at both ends slammed shut.
Evelyn fired at the nearest control box. Sparks sprayed across the cables, but the doors stayed locked.
Nolan caught her wrist before she could fire again.
"Stop wasting rounds."
"Take your hand off me."
"There are six rifles on the other side of that door. Maybe more."
"Then suggest something useful."
He turned his head toward the cable trays. "The power conduit."
"You can see in here?"
"I can feel it."
"That sentence is not helping your case."
"Your case is that I'm dangerous. It is."
He pulled her toward the wall.
Evelyn resisted. "Where are we going?"
"The conduit."
"And then?"
"Then you stop asking questions."
"That is not a plan."
"It is when I do it."
He shoved aside a panel and exposed a thick cable pulsing with blue current.
Nolan pressed his cuff against it.
The tunnel lights went dead.
Outside the sealed doors, rifles clicked into position.
Evelyn heard the movement and raised her pistol.
"Back up," Nolan said.
"You don't give me orders."
"Back up, Evelyn."
The way he said her name cut through the dark.
She took one step away.
"More."
"Don't push it."
"If this fails, you die first. If it works, you still might. Give me room."
She backed toward the opposite wall.
The distance between them reached six feet.
The cuff's red light began to pulse.
Nolan gritted his teeth. "Not that far."
"You said give you room."
"I said room, not a funeral."
The first door blew inward.
Armored hunters poured through the smoke.
"Vale! On your knees!"
Nolan kept one hand on the conduit. "Evelyn, when I say run, run to me."
"I don't run toward armed men."
"You do today."
The lead hunter raised a weapon fitted with a blue charge cell.
"Step away from the fugitive, Hart. Your brother is already in custody."
Evelyn's blood turned cold.
"You're lying."
"Ask her," Nolan said. His voice stayed calm, almost bored. "She knows you won't risk checking."
The hunter aimed at Evelyn. "Drop the weapon."
"Go choke on it."
"Evelyn," Nolan warned.
"Don't use that tone with me."
"I need you close."
"Then come get me."
The hunter fired.
Nolan ripped his cuff from the conduit.
Blue current exploded through the tunnel.
The armored hunters flew backward. Their weapons clattered against the doors. A bright wave raced along the cables and burst through the floor beneath Evelyn's boots.
Her black wristband flashed red.
Every lock in the tunnel snapped open.
Nolan crossed the distance between them in three strides and grabbed her hand.
The moment their palms met, the pain stopped.
Evelyn gasped.
His fingers locked around hers, hot and hard. Their joined cuffs glowed with a steady red line.
"What did you do?" she asked.
"Bought us a minute."
"You shut down the hunters."
"I borrowed the power."
"From a dead grid?"
"It wasn't dead. It was waiting."
He pulled her through the nearest open door.
She yanked against him. "Mika is not in custody."
"You don't know that."
"I know my brother. He would have triggered his emergency beacon."
"Unless someone took it from him."
She stopped so fast Nolan turned back.
"Say that again."
"You heard me."
"If they touched him—"
"Then we need the filter more than ever."
His hand was still around hers.
Evelyn looked down at their joined wrists. "Let go."
"No."
"That was not a request."
"Neither was mine."
She tried to pull free.
The cuff burned.
Pain shot up both arms. Nolan bent sharply, one hand catching the wall. Evelyn hit the opposite side and sucked in a breath.
A red warning symbol spread across the band.
"Stop fighting it," he said through clenched teeth.
"You stop holding me."
"I can't."
"You keep saying that."
"Because it keeps being true."
The tunnel behind them filled with boots.
Nolan forced himself upright and stepped close again. His shoulder pressed against hers. He lifted their linked hands between them.
"We stay together."
"Until I get my brother's filter."
"Until we remove this."
"Then we go separate ways."
His eyes fixed on hers. "If we survive long enough to hate each other properly."
"I already hate you."
"No, you don't."
Her breath caught.
He leaned in, not touching her, close enough that she felt the heat of his mouth near her ear.
"You hate that I know exactly what you need," he murmured.
"I hate that you think you do."
"Then prove me wrong."
A gunshot cracked behind them.
Nolan shoved Evelyn through the next doorway. The round tore through his shoulder.
He staggered.
She caught him before he hit the floor.
"Nolan."
The name came out before she could stop it.
His eyes flicked to her face. "So you believe it now?"
"Shut up. Hold still."
"You said you already hated me."
"I can hate you and keep you alive."
"That sounds complicated."
"You make everything complicated."
She pulled him behind a concrete support and tore open the first-aid strip from her belt. The bullet had grazed him, leaving a dark wet line across his shoulder.
Nolan watched her fingers press the seal into place.
"You are shaking," he said.
"I'm not."
"Your hand is."
"Because you keep bleeding on me."
"You could leave."
"And let them take you?"
"You said I wasn't your problem."
"You are now."
His expression went still.
For half a second, the tunnel noise fell away. Evelyn felt his pulse under her fingers. Stronger now. Too close. The cuff hummed between them.
Then a laser sight slid across the concrete beside her head.
Nolan saw it first.
"Down."
He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against him.
A shot punched through the support.
They hit the floor together. Evelyn's cheek pressed to his chest. His body covered hers, one hand braced at the back of her head.
"Get off," she whispered.
"Not yet."
"Nolan."
"If I move, they see you."
"They already see us."
"No. They see me. That's the point."
He rose in one smooth motion and stepped into the open.
Evelyn grabbed his shirt. "What are you doing?"
"Buying you time."
"You don't get to sacrifice yourself without asking me."
He glanced back at her. "You planning to say no?"
"I am planning to shoot anyone who comes through that door."
"Stay behind the support."
"Give me one reason."
"Because I said so."
"That is the worst reason I've ever heard."
Nolan faced the doorway.
Three hunters entered with weapons raised. Their armor was marked with the Authority seal, but the lead one wore no respirator. A thin scar crossed his mouth.
"Vale," the hunter said. "You have no exit."
"You keep saying that."
"The woman is irrelevant. Step away from her."
Nolan smiled without warmth. "You just put her on the kill list. That was stupid."
"She is already listed. Hart bloodline. Unauthorized research access. Theft of restricted medical stock."
Evelyn's stomach tightened.
"What research?" she demanded.
The hunter's gaze slid toward her. "You don't know?"
Nolan moved between them. "Don't talk to her."
"Interesting," the hunter said. "They didn't tell you either."
"Tell me what?" Evelyn asked.
Nolan's jaw clenched. "Don't listen to him."
"Why is my name on your list?"
"Ask your mother," the hunter said.
Evelyn's hand went cold around the pistol.
Nolan looked at her.
The hunter raised his weapon. "Bring us Vale, and your brother breathes another hour. Resist, and the boy's filter comes out."
Evelyn stepped from behind the support.
Nolan caught her arm. "Don't."
"They have Mika."
"They want you to think they do."
"You don't know that."
"I know how they work."
"You don't know anything about me."
"I know enough."
"Then tell me why they know my mother's name."
The hunter fired.
Nolan moved before Evelyn could.
He slammed his palm against the metal doorframe.
A red pulse burst from the cuff.
The shot bent sideways in midair and buried itself in the wall.
Every light in the tunnel exploded.
The hunters shouted.
Evelyn stared at Nolan's hand.
Thin red lines glowed beneath his skin, running from his wrist to his fingers like lit wires.
"What are you?" she asked.
Nolan looked at the hunters, then back at her.
"I don't know."
"You just stopped a bullet."
"I redirected it."
"That is not better."
"Run."
He seized her hand and pulled her through the emergency exit.
They burst into an old freight bay. A cargo door stood half open at the far end. Beyond it, the market's lower tunnel stretched toward the outer blocks.
Evelyn shoved Nolan behind a stack of empty containers.
"Stay here."
"You said we stay together."
"I said nothing about liking it."
She dropped the black case and checked the seal.
Yellow.
Two hours, maybe less.
Nolan crouched beside her. "The filter is intact."
"You can read the seal?"
"I can read most things."
"Except your own past."
He looked away.
That tiny movement told her more than any answer.
Evelyn picked up the case. "You know what you are."
"No."
"You knew the cuff. You knew the gate. You knew the conduit. You knew how to stop a bullet."
"Knowing what my body can do isn't the same as knowing who I am."
"Who put you in that transport cage?"
"I don't know."
"Who started the disaster?"
His eyes snapped back to hers.
For the first time, fear showed through the control in his face.
Evelyn saw it. He saw her see it.
"Why did you look at me like that?" she asked.
"Because you ask dangerous questions."
"And you give useless answers."
"You want the truth?"
"Try me."
He leaned closer, his hand braced on the container beside her shoulder. The space between them narrowed until his breath touched her lips.
"I remember a room full of white lights," he said. "I remember restraints. I remember someone saying, 'If the pulse falls, the dome falls.'"
Evelyn's fingers tightened around the filter case.
"The safe dome?"
"Maybe."
"Your blood powers it?"
His stare stayed on hers. "They said it did."
"And you let them sell you?"
"I woke up in the cage."
"Convenient again."
"You think I wanted any of this?"
"I think you know more than you are saying."
"I think you are scared for your brother and looking for someone to blame."
She pressed the barrel of her pistol to his chest.
His hand closed over the weapon, not forcing it away, just holding it steady between them.
"Careful," he said.
"Don't tell me to be careful."
"Then listen. If my blood can restart the dome, the Authority won't kill me. They will drain me until there is nothing left."
"And if you caused the disaster?"
His fingers tightened over hers.
"Then you should kill me before they get the chance."
The admission landed hard.
Evelyn studied his face. There was no smirk now. No easy answer. Just a man with blood on his shoulder and a weapon pressed to his heart, waiting to see what she would do.
A metal door slammed somewhere behind them.
Nolan turned his head.
"They found us."
"Can you use that trick again?"
"Maybe."
"I hate that word."
"Get used to it."
He pulled her toward the half-open cargo door.
Evelyn snatched up the case and followed. "If you slow me down, I leave you."
"No, you don't."
"Try me."
"Your wrist is already burning."
She looked down.
The black band had begun to glow brighter. A thin line of red stretched from her cuff toward Nolan's.
He was right. The link was tightening.
"How far can we get?" she asked.
"Not far."
"That wasn't the question."
"Ten feet, maybe."
"Maybe?"
"You keep demanding numbers from a man with holes in his memory."
They reached the cargo door.
A figure stood on the other side.
Not an Authority hunter.
A woman in a dark coat blocked the exit, one hand wrapped around a compact pistol. Her face was hidden behind a half-mask. A silver scar crossed the skin beneath one eye.
She raised the weapon.
Evelyn stopped.
Nolan stepped in front of her.
"You are late," he said.
The woman tilted her head. "You remember me?"
"No."
"Then move aside."
"She stays with me."
Evelyn's pulse jumped at the words.
The cuff burned red.
The masked woman noticed. Her gaze dropped to their linked wrists.
"You linked with her?" she asked.
"It wasn't intentional."
"You always say that before people die."
Evelyn raised her pistol beside Nolan's shoulder. "Who are you?"
The woman looked at her. "Ask your mother."
Nolan's hand closed around Evelyn's wrist.
The masked woman lifted her pistol higher, aiming straight at Evelyn's chest.
"Take one step away from him," she said, "and I pull the trigger."
Evelyn glanced at Nolan. His face had gone hard, but his thumb pressed once against the inside of her wrist. A warning. Or a promise.
The HUD on her cuff flickered to life.
RED LINK FAILURE.
DISTANCE LIMIT: TEN FEET.
MOVE TEN FEET APART, AND BOTH YOUR HEARTS STOP.
The masked woman cocked the pistol.
"Now," she said, "tell me which one of you is going to—