Chapter 22 · The Anchor

"Don't touch him." Mara's gun was up before Jace could step back.

He raised both hands, water dripping off his sleeves. The man behind him was still making that wet, rattling sound. Still using his father's voice.

"That's not him," Jace said.

"I know what he sounds like." Mara's hand didn't shake. "Step aside."

"Look at his chest."

She didn't move the barrel. "What?"

"The connector. Same as the others. He's wired in."

Mara's jaw tightened. She shifted half a step to the side, keeping the gun on Jace but angling her line of sight past him. He heard her breath catch.

"Elliott."

The man on the floor tried to sit up. Failed. His shirt was open, and the same black cable they'd seen on the others ran from a port in his sternum down into the floor grating. His skin around it was gray, veins standing out like cracks in old glass.

"Mara," the man said. Elliott. Her missing partner. "You shouldn't be here."

"Neither should you." She moved past Jace, gun lowering but not holstering. "How long?"

"Since the night I called you." Elliott coughed. Blood flecked his lips. "Thirty-seven loops. Maybe thirty-eight. I lose count.