Chapter 19 · Traceless - Chapter 19: The Heir Walks In

The crying stopped.

Layla froze halfway across the lab floor, her hand still inches from Cole's sleeve. The silence that rushed in was worse than the sound. It meant someone—or something—knew they were here.

"Move." Cole's voice came out flat. He stepped in front of her, his injured wrist dripping onto the tile. The blood left a trail of dark dots behind them.

Evan kicked the door shut and shoved a metal cart against it. "That's not going to hold if HQ's already inside."

"HQ doesn't know about this site." Cole didn't turn around. His eyes tracked the rows of filing cabinets lining the left wall. "The explosion wiped it off the grid."

Layla forced her legs to move. The air in here tasted stale, like old paper and disinfectant. Nothing like the sterile acid smell of the main HQ floors. The lights overhead buzzed, half of them flickering. She could see now that the room stretched farther back than she'd thought.