Chapter 26 · Nine Minutes Missing

The blast threw us into the corridor and I tasted copper. My ears rang. Ian's hand was still locked around my wrist and he was dragging me forward before I could get my legs under me.

"Move," he said. Not loud. Flat.

Behind us the core room was screaming. Alarms, crackling electrical fire, and something worse—a wet hissing sound like the walls were bleeding data. The memory core had shattered into a thousand glass teeth and now the backup servers were cooking themselves trying to contain it.

I yanked my arm free. "Don't touch me."

Ian didn't slow down. "Seren, the lockdown triggers in forty seconds. If we're still inside—"

"I don't care."

"You will when they purge the sector."

I cared. I hated that I cared. My legs moved and I followed him down the service hall because the alternative was burning alive in a government sublevel while the city forgot I existed.

The lights overhead were strobing red and white. My shadow split into two, then four, then none. Ian took a left turn without looking and I wondered how many times he'd rehearsed this.