Chapter 20 · Undercity Broker - Chapter 20: Dr. An's Other Face

Lin hit the clinic door at four in the morning.

Dr. An was still up. The lights in the back room threw shadows across the waiting area, and he could hear her moving something heavy. Metal scraping concrete. He didn't knock. Just pushed through and kept the keycard in his left hand where she could see it.

She froze when she saw him. A steel cabinet half-pulled from the wall, her hands still on the edge. Blood on her sleeve. Not hers.

"Busy night?" Lin said.

She straightened. Her face didn't change much but her eyes tracked the keycard. "You shouldn't be here."

"Yeah. Funny thing." He held up the card. Lei's blood was still on the corner, dried black. "Guy I know said my mom came through Platform Seven a year ago. Said he handed her off to a doctor. Woman. Mid-thirties. Scar on her left hand."

Dr. An looked at her hand. The scar ran from her thumb to her wrist. Old burn, maybe. She'd never explained it.

"Lin—"

"Don't." He stepped closer. The curse mark on his arm started to itch. "You knew. This whole time you knew and you didn't say anything."

"I couldn't.