Chapter 6 · The Memory They Buried

"Get your hand off her." Kael drove his shoulder into the cell door just as Vargas's armored fingers closed around Nyx's throat.

The door buckled. So did Kael's ribs.

Vargas barely moved. He turned his head, slow and bored, while Nyx's boots scraped against the floor. Her android shell was still damaged from the escape, one arm hanging stiff at her side, but she got both hands around Vargas's wrist and smiled through the pressure.

"You know," she said, voice thin, "most men buy me dinner before trying to dismantle me."

"You are not a woman," Vargas said. "You are stolen military property."

"And you are still ugly. We all have problems."

Kael hit the emergency release with the butt of his pistol. Nothing happened. Red warning lights crawled across the panel.

"Nyx!"

Her eyes snapped toward him. Blue light flashed under her skin, bright enough to show through the cracks in her cheek plating.

"Busy," she rasped.

Vargas squeezed harder. "You brought the hunter here?"

"He brought himself. He has terrible judgment."

"I heard that," Kael said.

Vargas slammed Nyx into the wall. Metal rang behind her head.