Chapter 22 · The Backup Transmitter

"You knew Nora was here, and you still brought me into her broadcast room?" I knocked Lucas's hand off my arm before he could haul me behind the console.

"I brought you here because the drones found her first."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one that matters if you want her alive."

The room lurched.

A brutal impact hit somewhere above us. Dust poured from the ceiling and peppered the dead monitors. Metal screamed below our feet.

Lucas grabbed for me again.

I slapped his hand away. "Touch me like that one more time, and I'll break your fingers."

His eyes dropped to my mouth.

Only for half a second.

Then they snapped back to mine, cold and sharp. He was close enough that I felt the heat of him through my jacket. Close enough to catch the smoke and steel clinging to his clothes.

"Try it after we survive the next sixty seconds."

"You keep saying that like survival is your gift to me."

"Right now, it is.