Chapter 29 · Traceless - Chapter 29: Cut the Signal

Cole's blood was everywhere. On my hands, on the floor, dripping down the side of the exam table in fat red drops that hit the tile too loud.

The emergency lights painted everything the color of a crime scene. Which, technically, this was. I'd just dug a tracker out of a man's arm with a scalpel I barely knew how to hold.

Mara swayed on her feet, one hand braced against the wall. Her hospital gown hung off her like she'd shrunk inside it. "There's a service tunnel," she said. Her voice came out scratchy, like she'd been screaming in her sleep for weeks. "Behind the supply closet. Goes straight to the old loading bay."

"You're not going anywhere." Evan's gun hand was steady, but his face wasn't. Sweat ran down his temple. The weapon stayed trained on Mara, not me. Smart. She was the leverage. I was the bomb he couldn't afford to set off.

Cole shoved himself upright, his good hand clamped over the mess I'd made of his right arm. Blood seeped between his fingers. "Layla. Move."

I didn't. My feet felt welded to the floor.