Chapter 14 · Traceless - Chapter 14: The Girl No One Can Sense

Cole's hand closed around my wrist before I could pull the bracelet off. His grip was tight enough to hurt.

"Don't," he said. "Taking it off won't stop the signal now."

I tried to yank free anyway. "Then what's the point of leaving it on?"

"Because if you take it off, they'll know you know." His eyes flicked to the road beyond the burned house. "Right now they think it activated by accident. Environmental trigger. Old tech glitching out."

Evan stepped between us, his face pale. "How long do we have?"

"Ten minutes if they're coming from the downtown hub." Cole released my wrist but didn't step back. "Maybe fifteen if Vera's slowing them down."

"Vera?" The name came out sharper than I meant it to. "Your ex-fiancée who works for HQ?"

"She's not—" Cole stopped himself. Shook his head once. "It doesn't matter what she is. What matters is you're lit up like a beacon and every modified tracker in the city just got your coordinates."

The bracelet felt heavier now. N-07 etched into cheap plastic, glowing faint blue in the dim light filtering through the broken roof.