Chapter 29 · Echoes of the Dead

"You know me?" Selah kept one hand on the knife at her thigh while Kane blocked half the room with his body.

The woman in the chair smiled. Her skin looked gray under the broken containment lights, but her eyes were sharp. Too sharp for someone the Bureau had declared dead three years ago.

"I know what they made you forget," she said.

Kane's fingers closed around Selah's wrist. Warm. Tight. Not quite painful.

"Stay behind me."

"Try giving me a useful order for once."

"That was useful."

"You don't get to decide that."

The woman's smile faded. Her gaze moved between them, following the thin silver mark that ran from Selah's palm to Kane's wrist. The mark pulsed once, hot enough to make Selah's teeth clench.

"The bond is awake," the woman whispered.

Kane stepped closer to Selah. His shoulder brushed hers. His breath touched the side of her face.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"You already know."

"No, I don't."

"That's the part they fixed."

A red light flashed over the sealed door.

Kane's head snapped toward it. "How many?"

"Enough to kill you before you reach the elevator," the woman said.

Selah pulled her wrist free.