Chapter 24 · The Woman Below

"Put the knife down, Kane."

The blade stopped inches from the witness's throat.

She stood between us and the burning archive door, one hand clamped over her neck, the other wrapped around a rusted knife. Smoke crawled across the ceiling. Behind her, Hart Bureau records snapped and flared inside the shelves.

Kane didn't lower his weapon.

"Mara," he said. "Step away from Evelyn."

My stomach dropped.

The woman shoved gray hair out of her face. Her cheek was split open. Blood ran down her neck and vanished beneath the collar of her torn Bureau uniform.

"You brought him here?" she rasped.

I stepped in front of Kane before I could think better of it.

His hand locked around my waist. Heat punched through my coat. The mark around my wrist burned beneath his glove.

"She knows your name," I said. "That doesn't make her Mara."

His fingers tightened. "Evelyn. Move."

"No. You knew this level was active. You knew someone was alive down here. You didn't tell me."

"And you followed me into a building that's trying to kill you." His eyes cut down to mine. "Don't act shocked because I kept one secret."

"One?" I snapped.