Chapter 11 · Blood Price

"Put the gun down, Evelyn." The broker's voice came through the loudspeakers, calm as if he were asking her to move a chair.

Evelyn kept the pistol aimed at his chest.

Across the concrete pit, Rusk smiled behind the glass of the control booth. Two fingers rested on a red button beside his console. One press, and the steel shutters behind her would drop. One more, and Mika's oxygen line would stop.

Nolan stood close enough that his shoulder brushed hers. His hand was still clamped around the cut on his wrist, blood slipping between his fingers.

"You changed the deal," Evelyn said.

"I improved it."

"You said medicine for a route through the south gate."

"That was before you brought me the man every Authority squad in the city is hunting."

Rusk leaned toward the microphone. "Alive, Evelyn. Hand Nolan over alive, and your brother gets a fresh filter. Refuse, and you can listen to him choke from the other side of that door."

A wet, broken cough came through the speaker mounted above the pit.

Mika.

Evelyn's finger tightened against the trigger.

"If you touch him—"

"He has eleven minutes of air left," Rusk cut in. "Maybe nine.