Chapter 19 · Blood Overload

"Don't pull away from me!" Nolan caught my wrist before I could take one step. His grip locked hard enough to stop me, not hard enough to break skin. "The link is spiking. If you get more than ten feet away, we both drop."

"Then let go and keep up."

"Evelyn."

His voice hit the same instant the pain did.

A hot wire ripped from my wrist to the back of my skull. My knees folded. Nolan hauled me against his chest before I hit the concrete, his respirator knocking against my cheek. The filter he had forced over my face earlier still tasted like metal and burnt plastic.

Behind us, the iron gate had slammed shut. Gunfire had faded on the other side, but the shots still rang through my head. Nolan's pulse hammered against my ribs. Mine answered from somewhere too deep.

"Thirty seconds," he said.

I shoved at his shoulder. "Thirty seconds for what?"

"For the link to cook us."

"You could've mentioned that before you dragged me into a dead tunnel."

"You were busy trying to get shot."

"I was getting Mika out."

"Mika is behind the gate."

That stopped me.

Nolan felt it.