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"Get down!" Nolan shoved Evelyn's head beneath the rusted pipe as three drones ripped through the tunnel ceiling.
Bullets punched the concrete where her skull had been.
Evelyn hit the floor hard, cheek scraping grit. Nolan landed over her, one hand braced beside her face, his other arm clamped around her waist to keep her flat.
"Get off me," she hissed.
"Gladly. Give me a better hiding place."
A drone screamed overhead. Its search beam sliced through the maintenance tunnel, white and sharp. Metal fragments rained down. Nolan pulled her tighter against his chest before she could roll away.
His body was hot through both their jackets. His breath brushed her ear.
"You linked the limiter to the neural contract," he whispered. "Can you shut it off?"
"I can shut you off."
"Not what I asked."
"Then ask nicer."
The drone fired again.
The wall beside them burst open. Evelyn covered her head with both arms, but Nolan caught one wrist and dragged it down.
"Don't curl up. Look at me."
"I know how to survive a shooting."
"No, you know how to run into them. Different skill."
"You want to critique me, or do you want to stop the damn drones?"
His eyes flashed in the dark. Not fear. Calculation. He looked past her shoulder at the narrow service passage, then at the black limiter locked around his wrist.
"You built this place?"
"I stole the map."
"That wasn't my question."
"Get used to disappointment."
A red targeting dot slid across Nolan's back.
Evelyn saw it first. She grabbed his collar and rolled them both behind a broken junction box. The shot cracked over them, hot air snapping against her cheek.
Nolan stared at her hand still twisted in his jacket.
"You just saved me."
"I saved the blood. Don't make it romantic."
"Wasn't planning to."
"Good."
"You look disappointed."
She shoved his shoulder. "Move."
They crawled through the gap beneath the junction box. Evelyn went first, dragging her med case behind her. Nolan followed with one hand pressed against his ribs. Every few feet, the contract pulsed under her skin. A hot pinch in her spine. Then another in his, judging by the way his jaw tightened.
The limiter's black band blinked between them.
A thin blue line ran from its center to the old neural mark beneath Evelyn's wrist. The line did not stay still. It throbbed with both their heartbeats.
"You said this thing would hold," Nolan said.
"It is holding."
"It feels like a live wire."
"That's because it is one."
He stopped crawling.
Evelyn turned and found him blocking the passage, broad shoulders filling the gap. Dust streaked his face. Blood darkened the side of his shirt where the earlier bullet had grazed him.
"What?" she snapped.
"You connected a black-market restraint to a contract you don't understand."
"I understand enough."
"Do you? If the limiter spikes, it can stop both our hearts."
"Then don't make it spike."
His hand closed around her ankle. Not hard enough to hurt. More than hard enough to remind her that he could stop her from leaving.
"And if you run?" he asked.
Evelyn looked down at his fingers, then back at his face. "You die with me."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one you get."
The drones hammered the tunnel entrance. Their rotors grew louder, chewing through steel.
Nolan leaned closer. His knee pressed against hers. Heat rolled off him in the cramped space, mixing with the copper stink of his blood and the stale plastic smell of her filter mask.
"You wanted control," he said. "Now you have it. So tell me where we're going."
"To my brother."
"The kid with the failing filter?"
Her fingers tightened around the med case strap. "Say one more thing about him and I'll break your nose."
"He needs the dome."
"He needs a working lung filter. The dome is the only place with one."
"And you think my blood gets him inside."
"I think your blood can restart the core."
"You don't know that."
"You lit up a dead security panel with one drop. That's not nothing."
"Maybe the panel was thirsty."
She punched his arm.
He caught her fist before it landed again. His thumb rested against her knuckles. His gaze dropped there for half a second.
The pause hit harder than the gunfire.
"Let go," she said.
"Tell me the truth."
"I am."
"No. You're giving me the version that keeps me useful."
"That is the truth that matters right now."
A burst of static snapped from Evelyn's wrist comm.
"Evelyn?" Mika's voice came thin and ragged through the speaker. "Eve, answer me."
She ripped her hand free and slapped the comm on.
"Mika, where are you?"
A wet cough crackled through the channel.
"Not moving. Before you start yelling, I know. I'm under the old transit exchange."
"Why are you there?"
"Because three Authority vans just boxed in the clinic. Also, my filter is flashing red."
Evelyn's stomach dropped.
"How long?"
"The display says six minutes. It lies when it gets scared. So maybe four."
"Stay put. I'm coming."
"With him?"
Nolan's eyes sharpened.
"Mika," Evelyn said, "don't talk to him."
"He can hear me, genius."
"I can also hear you," Nolan said.
"Great. Then hear this. If you hurt my sister, I'll upload your face to every bounty board from here to the dome."
Nolan glanced at Evelyn. "Your brother sounds charming."
"He sounds smarter than you."
"Most people do."
Another explosion shook the tunnel. The floor jumped beneath Evelyn's knees. The blue line between her wrist and Nolan's limiter flared bright enough to hurt her eyes.
Nolan sucked in a breath and grabbed his chest.
The contract punched through her nerves at the same time.
She slammed both hands against his jacket. "What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"The link spiked."
"The drones are scanning for the limiter."
"How would you know that?"
He looked toward the ceiling. His pupils narrowed as another beam passed through the cracks above them.
"Because I remember the sound."
Evelyn went still.
"Remember what?"
His jaw flexed. "A room. White walls. Machines behind glass. Someone counting down."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Convenient."
"You think I enjoy having pieces of my life stuffed behind a locked door?"
"I think you enjoy making me guess."
He drove his palm into the tunnel wall beside her head. The pipe above them rattled.
"Then stop guessing and listen."
His face was inches from hers now. Close enough for her to feel his breath through the edge of her mask. Close enough to see the tiny cut beside his mouth.
"Those machines were tied to my pulse," he said. "When my heart slowed, the whole room screamed. When I fought, they increased the current."
"Who did that to you?"
"I said I don't know."
"And you expect me to trust you?"
"No. I expect you to keep me alive because you need me."
The words landed clean and ugly.
Evelyn shoved him back. "You don't get to decide what I need."
"You already decided. That's why you put the limiter on me."
"I put it on you because you tried to take my gun."
"You held it to my head first."
"And you forced me to admit I couldn't kill you."
His expression changed. Barely. A tight pull at the corner of his mouth.
"Could you?" he asked.
The tunnel seemed to shrink around them.
Evelyn could still feel the shape of his forehead beneath the gun barrel from minutes ago. His skin had been warm. His pulse steady, as if he had trusted her to pull the trigger.
She hated that memory. She hated the way it sat between them.
"Don't ask questions you can't afford the answer to," she said.
"You first."
Mika coughed again, harder this time.
"Eve," he rasped. "Not to interrupt your murder-flirting, but I have maybe three minutes."
"We're coming."
"You said that two minutes ago."
"Then stop counting."
"Can't. My brain is wired better than yours."
Nolan reached for the comm.
Evelyn slapped his hand away. "Don't."
"He needs a route."
"He needs me."
"He needs someone who can get him out before the vans cut through the exchange."
He took the comm anyway.
Evelyn grabbed his wrist. The instant their skin touched, the blue connection snapped brighter. Pain shot up both their arms.
Nolan's breath caught.
Her hand stayed around him for one stupid second too long.
His fingers turned beneath hers, palm pressing to palm. His skin was rough and hot. The contract hummed between them like it knew exactly where they were touching.
"Let go," she whispered.
"You first."
"Nolan."
"Say please."
She drove her knee into his thigh.
He grunted and released her, but he did not give back the comm.
"Mika," he said, "how many exits?"
"Who the hell are you?"
"The reason your sister is still alive."
"That answer sucks. Try again."
"Three exits. Which one's blocked?"
A pause. Keyboard clicks tapped through the channel.
"North tunnel is sealed. East stairwell has heat signatures. South line runs under the power station."
"Can you open the south gate?"
"Maybe."
"Do it."
"You don't order me around."
"Then your filter dies while you're arguing."
"I like him," Mika coughed.
"You don't get a vote," Evelyn said.
Nolan handed the comm back, but his fingers brushed hers. He held on just long enough to make the transfer a challenge.
"South gate," he said. "We move now."
"You don't lead."
"You don't know the tunnel."
"I stole the map."
"And I can hear the drones through the walls."
A dark shape dropped through the ceiling behind them.
Evelyn fired before it hit the ground. The shot blew out one of the drone's lenses. It slammed into the floor, claws snapping inches from Nolan's boot.
Nolan kicked it into the wall, seized a broken metal rod, and drove it through the drone's central housing.
Blue sparks sprayed across his hand.
He didn't flinch.
Evelyn stared. "That should have burned you."
"It did."
"You're not reacting."
"I react when it matters."
"You are so full of—"
The remaining drones cut through the ceiling.
Nolan grabbed her around the waist and hauled her into the south passage. Evelyn's back struck his chest. His arm locked across her ribs while he fired over her shoulder with her pistol.
One drone spun away. The other lost its targeting beam.
"You keep touching me without permission," she snapped.
"You keep standing where bullets go."
"Put me down."
"We're running."
"I'm not a package."
"Then run faster."
He released her. She sprinted ahead, boots hammering the metal walkway. The contract tugged when they reached the bend, warning her that the distance was already too much.
Pain sliced through her neck.
Nolan staggered behind her.
"Damn it," she gasped. "Stay close."
"Thought I didn't lead."
"Shut up and keep up."
They hit the south gate together. It was a steel slab with a dead control panel and a manual wheel locked behind a glass cover.
Mika's voice came through the comm. "The gate needs a power pulse."
Evelyn ripped the cover off with the butt of her gun. "I don't have one."
Nolan looked at the dead panel.
"You do," he said.
"No."
"Your brother said my blood can power the dome. Start smaller."
"You don't know what it'll do to you."
"Neither do you."
"Exactly."
The drones shrieked behind them. Their searchlight spilled down the tunnel.
Nolan pulled a knife from his boot and cut across his palm.
Evelyn caught his wrist before the blood could fall.
"Don't."
His heartbeat thudded against her fingers.
"You need the gate open."
"I need you alive."
His eyes locked on hers.
For one breath, neither of them moved.
Then Nolan lowered his voice. "You just said you need me."
"Don't get smug."
"Too late."
He turned his hand and pressed the cut against the panel.
The dead screen flashed.
A blue spark crawled from his palm into the circuitry. It jumped across the panel, ran along the gate's seams, and burst through the tunnel in a hard electric pulse.
The drones froze.
Every light in the passage went dark.
Then the core inside the gate woke.
Blue filled the tunnel from floor to ceiling. It poured over Nolan's face, caught in his eyes, and lit the blood on his palm like glowing ink.
Evelyn couldn't breathe.
The light was inside her too. Not in the air. In the link.
She felt Nolan's panic hit her nerves before she saw it on his face.
He jerked away from the panel. His shoulder struck the gate.
"What the hell was that?" she demanded.
"You felt it."
"I felt you."
"No. You felt what they did to me."
His knees buckled.
Evelyn caught him under the arms. His weight dragged her down, but she held on. The blue glow pulsed faster, matching both their heartbeats.
"Stay with me," she said.
"Bossy."
"Nolan."
"I'm here."
"Look at me."
He did.
His face had gone pale, but his hand closed around the back of her jacket. Not to trap her this time. To keep himself upright.
"Don't let go," he said.
The words came out low. Almost rough.
Evelyn's throat tightened. "I wasn't planning to."
"Liar."
"You're bleeding on my boots. You don't get to call me names."
"Those aren't names."
"Nolan."
"Fine. Don't kill me until I remember why you look familiar."
She froze.
Behind him, the gate groaned. Locks began to release one by one.
"What did you say?"
He blinked, as if the sentence had slipped out before he could stop it.
"I said you look familiar."
"No. The other part."
"I don't know."
"You said I look like the scientist who made the lock."
"I said you look like her."
"Who is she?"
The blue light flickered across his face. His grip on Evelyn's jacket tightened.
"I don't know her name."
"But you know her."
"I know her hands."
Evelyn stopped breathing.
Nolan stared at her fingers, then at the black limiter around his wrist.
"She had the same scar here," he said. "Same cut on the thumb. Same way of holding the tool. She stood behind the glass while they locked me down."
Evelyn's hand went numb.
"You're lying."
"I wish I was."
"My mother disappeared before the first quarantine. She never worked on neural contracts."
"Then why does the machine know your pulse?"
The gate unlocked with a heavy clunk.
Mika cried out through the comm. "Eve! Open it!"
The drones rebooted behind them.
Nolan pushed the gate wide enough for Evelyn to slip through, but he stayed in the opening.
"Move," she said.
"You first."
"You don't get to die in a doorway."
"Funny. You were willing to shoot me in one."
She seized his jacket and yanked him through. The gate slammed shut behind them just as the drones opened fire. Bullets punched dents into the steel.
For three seconds, there was only the two of them, trapped in a cramped control chamber with the blue core burning between them.
Nolan's body pressed against hers from the impact. One hand braced beside her head. The other still held her wrist.
The limiter pulsed.
His thumb moved once over her skin.
Neither of them spoke.
Then Mika's voice broke through the comm, sharp with sudden fear.
"Evelyn. Get to the console. Now."
She shoved Nolan back and crossed the chamber. A cracked monitor flickered awake. Lines of code spilled down the screen, followed by a red warning banner.
"What am I looking at?" she asked.
"The old dome grid."
"You hacked into it?"
"I hacked into the part that wasn't dead."
Nolan came up behind her. Too close again. His chest nearly touched her shoulder.
"What's the warning?" he asked.
Mika went quiet.
Evelyn turned. "Mika. Talk."
The boy's breathing scraped through the comm.
"I found a power source signature," he said. "It's not the core. It's him."
Nolan's face emptied.
"That's impossible," he said.
"You don't get to say that," Mika snapped. "I have the readings right here. His blood isn't just compatible with the dome. It carries the same charge as the original reactor key."
Evelyn looked at Nolan's bleeding palm.
The blue light crawled beneath his skin.
"How much blood?" she asked.
"Eve—"
"How much?"
Mika's breath hitched.
The monitor flashed. A new file opened by itself. No name. No face. Just a red authorization stamp and a list of targets.
At the top was Nolan Vale.
Under it was Evelyn Hart.
Mika gasped at the screen. "His blood... it can power the whole damn dome, but—"