Chapter 10 · Shared Agony

"Get up, Evelyn." Nolan's good hand locked around her arm and hauled her off the tunnel floor. "If you stay down, they get both of us."

"Take your hand off me."

"Gladly. The second you can stand."

Her knees folded again. The nerve contract ripped through her like a live wire, matching the pulse still burning across Nolan's shoulder. His blood had soaked through his shirt. Every time his fingers tightened, pain flashed behind her eyes.

She shoved at his chest anyway. "You got shot because you think you're bulletproof. Don't make that my problem."

"It became your problem when you signed the contract."

"I didn't sign anything. You forced my hand."

"And now the contract says we move."

A burst of static cracked from the dead hunter's radio. Then a voice slid through it, calm and close.

"Chief Vale, surrender the woman. You have thirty seconds before the tunnel seals."

Nolan went still.

Evelyn caught it. The tiny pause. The way his jaw tightened around the name he refused to explain.

"Chief Vale," she repeated. "That what they called you before you started pretending to be harmless?"

"Walk."

"Answer me."

"You want answers?