Chapter 17 · The Third Name in the Testimony

"Step away from the tower door, Evelyn."

Lucas had one hand around my arm and the other aimed at the lock. The command network had already sealed the lower chamber. Red lights flashed above us, washing his face in sharp color.

I looked at his fingers on my skin.

"Let go."

"Not until you stop trying to get yourself killed."

"Then you'll be holding me here while the tower wipes the only file that can clear us. Great plan, Warden."

His jaw tightened. "The file isn't worth your life."

"You don't get to decide that."

I twisted hard. He caught me before I hit the console, his chest striking my back. Heat pressed through his uniform. His breath touched the side of my neck.

For half a second, neither of us moved.

Then the tower speakers crackled.

"Mara has started the purge," a woman's voice announced. "All unauthorized evidence will be erased in sixty seconds."

Lucas released me like my skin had burned him.

I spun around. "Sixty seconds? You said we had three minutes."

"Mara changed the command cycle."

"Mara is your commander."

"She was.