Chapter 27 · The Dirty Deal

"You want the coordinates, or you want Talia alive?" Rhys pressed the edge of his knife under Mara's jaw. "Pick one. Now."

Mara kept one hand clamped over the bleeding cut in her side. Her other hand held the black key against her chest. The key was hot enough to burn through her jacket.

Across the abandoned loading bay, Talia knelt beside a cracked support pillar with a corporate hunter's boot planted between her shoulder blades. A shock-pistol touched the back of her neck.

"Take your knife off me," Mara said.

"That is not an answer."

"It is if you want your fingers attached."

Rhys's mouth tightened. His gray eyes stayed on hers, cold and sharp and far too close. His body blocked the only clean path to Talia. One hand held the knife. The other gripped the chain at Mara's wrist—the chain that linked their life-lines.

If he pulled, the contract pulled with him. If he moved too far away, both of them started shutting down.

The hunter behind Talia laughed. "Cute. She still thinks she has choices."

"Shut up," Rhys said.

The hunter shoved Talia's head against the pillar.

Mara's pulse jumped.