Chapter 16 · Undercity Broker - Chapter 16: Before the Tunnel Falls

The lights went out like someone cut a wire.

Lin Mo's arm burned where the tattoo sat, hot enough that he could smell his own skin cooking. He didn't move. Su Jin still had the gun pressed to his sternum, hard enough he could feel his heartbeat knocking against the barrel.

"What the hell just happened," Su Jin said. Not a question.

Lin opened his mouth. The air tasted like metal and old electricity, the kind that clung to your tongue after a lightning strike. Somewhere past the shipping containers that made up Su Jin's office, he heard footsteps running. Voices shouting. Then a sound he'd only heard once before, three weeks ago when he first stumbled into the undercity: the low groan of something massive waking up.

The source platform.

"It's calling me," Lin said.

Su Jin didn't lower the gun. "You told the truth. That was the deal. So why did every light in my district die the second you opened your mouth?"

"I don't know."

"Try again."

Lin's arm flared hotter. The tattoo was moving now, black lines crawling up toward his shoulder like they were looking for something.