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"You're the operator." I grabbed Mara's wrist before she could bolt. "That's what the ledger said, isn't it?"
"Let go." She twisted, but I held on. Her pulse hammered under my thumb.
"Last page. Your name. Right?"
She stopped fighting. Her face went blank in that way people do when the lie they've been building just collapsed. "Jace—"
"Don't." I shoved her back against the tunnel wall. Water dripped somewhere behind us. The train had dumped us two blocks from the transit hub, right into the old drainage network under Fifth. No cameras. No witnesses. Just us and whatever was about to come crawling out of the dark. "You knew. This whole time, you knew you were the next reset switch."
"I didn't ask for it," she said. Her voice cracked. "I found my partner's notes three days ago. He'd been tracking the operator list for months. Every name on it disappeared within forty-eight hours of being flagged. I was supposed to be next."
"So you came after me instead."
"I came after the truth." She met my eyes. No flinch. "You were in the system, Jace. Every reset, you were there. I thought you were running it."
"And now?"
"Now I think we're both dead."
Footsteps echoed from the north tunnel. Multiple sets. Heavy boots. I pulled Mara deeper into the junction and killed my phone light. She didn't argue. Smart girl.
"How many know about the ledger?" I kept my voice low.
"Just me. My partner's gone. The file was encrypted six layers deep."
"Then how'd they find us?"
She didn't answer. Didn't need to. The footsteps stopped fifty feet out. I heard the click of a safety coming off. Then a voice, flat and processed through a mask.
"Mara Vance. Jace Mercer. Step into the light."
"That's not happening," I called back.
"You have ten seconds."
Mara's hand found mine in the dark. Her fingers were cold. "If they kill us before midnight, we don't loop back."
"I know."
"So what do we do?"
I pulled the gun I'd lifted off the last guy who tried to repo my sister. Not standard issue. Not legal. But it worked. "We make them rethink their shift."
"That's your plan?"
"You got a better one?"
She grabbed the gun from my hand. "Yeah. Don't get us killed."
The first shot punched into the concrete two inches from my head. I yanked Mara sideways into a side drain. She fired back twice, aiming high. The muzzle flash lit up her face for half a second. Jaw tight. Eyes locked forward. She wasn't panicking. She was pissed.
"How many rounds?" she asked.
"Six left."
"Great."
More footsteps. Closer now. They were flanking us from both sides. I counted three, maybe four. Professional spacing. No chatter. Whoever sent them wasn't playing.
"They want you alive," I said. "That's why they're not rushing."
"What about you?"
"I'm a problem they can solve later."
She looked at me. Really looked. "You're not going to leave me here."
"Wasn't planning on it."
"Why?"
"Because if you're the next operator, I need you breathing. And if you're not, then someone's setting you up, and I want to know who."
Her mouth twitched. Almost a smile. "That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me all week."
"Don't get used to it."
The hunters moved in. I saw the beam of a tactical light sweep the junction. Mara pressed flat against the drainage wall. I stayed low. My knee was in three inches of runoff water. It smelled like rust and dead things.
"Last chance," the voice called. "Come out, or we burn you out."
"They're bluffing," Mara whispered.
"You sure?"
"No."
I checked the time on my phone. 11:53. Fourteen minutes until reset. If we lasted that long, the hour would roll back and we'd get another shot. If we didn't, we were just two more names on a list nobody would read.
Mara's cuffs caught the light. Still locked. Still city issue. I could shoot them off. Risky, but doable. Or I could use the rounds on the hunters and keep her slow.
She saw me looking. "Don't even think about it."
"Think about what?"
"Leaving me cuffed so I can't run."
"Hadn't crossed my mind."
"Liar."
I raised the gun. Lined up the shot. Her wrists. The chain between the cuffs. One round. Clean break. She'd be free. She'd also be able to disappear the second I turned my back.
She didn't move. Just watched me. Waiting.
"You trust me?" I asked.
"No."
"Good."
I fired. Not at her cuffs. At the tactical light thirty feet out. The lens shattered. Someone swore. I fired again. Second light. Gone. The tunnel dropped into black.
"Run," I said.
Mara didn't hesitate. She bolted east, cuffs and all. I followed. Behind us, the hunters were shouting coordinates. They had night vision. We had fifteen seconds before they locked us down again.
The drainage tunnel branched left. Mara took it. I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. "Not that way."
"Why not?"
"Dead end. I used to run repo routes down here."
"Then where?"
I pointed at a maintenance hatch in the ceiling. Rusted. Probably sealed. But it was the only way up. "There."
She jumped. Missed. Tried again. I boosted her. She caught the rim and hauled herself up. The cuffs slowed her, but she made it. I passed her the gun. "Cover me."
She aimed back down the tunnel. "Hurry."
I pulled myself up. The hatch groaned. My shoulder screamed. I was halfway through when the hunters rounded the corner. Mara fired once. Twice. The gun clicked empty.
"Jace—"
I kicked the hatch shut and slammed the bolt. Something heavy hit the other side. Then another impact. They were coming through.
We were in a utility corridor. Narrow. Low ceiling. Pipes ran along both walls. Mara was breathing hard. Blood on her wrist where the cuffs had cut in.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Define okay."
The hatch shuddered again. Thirty seconds. Maybe less.
"There." Mara pointed. A steel door at the end of the corridor. No marking. No handle. Just a flat panel with a card reader.
"That's locked," I said.
"So?"
"So we don't have a card."
She pulled something from her jacket. City investigator badge. She swiped it. The panel blinked red. She tried again. Still red.
"Great," I said.
The hatch blew open behind us. I grabbed Mara and shoved her toward the door. "Break it."
"With what?"
"I don't care."
She slammed her shoulder into it. Nothing. I checked my phone. 11:58. The reset was six minutes out. If we made it that long.
Footsteps in the corridor. Close. I turned. Three hunters. Masks. Guns up. The lead one stopped ten feet out.
"End of the line," he said.
Mara was still hitting the door. I heard the crack of metal giving. Not enough. Not fast enough.
I stepped between her and the hunters. Empty gun in my hand. Useless. But it bought a second.
"You don't want her," I said.
"We want both of you."
"She's the operator. I'm just the guy who remembers. You kill her, the reset stops. You kill me, nothing changes."
The hunter tilted his head. "You think we don't know that?"
Behind me, the steel door groaned. Then it opened. Not outward. Inward. A crack of light spilled into the corridor. Mara stumbled back.
And then I heard it. A voice. Young. Scared. Familiar.
"Jace?"
I turned. My kid sister stood in the doorway, staring at me.
"Jace, what are you doing here?"