Page 44 of Knight

“Our exit strategy. If we need it.”

“If?” She takes a step back. “I thought you decided we need to get out of here.”

“We do. But timing matters.” I check my watch again. The first time would be at fifteen minutes now. The second … my stomach tightens. Five minutes max.

I move back to my workstation, running my hand over the equipment.

Victor knew exactly how to push me into this corner. But why? What’s the real purpose behind forcing me to shut everything down?

The flash drive in my pocket feels heavy. I grabbed it on instinct when the virus first hit, downloading what I could before the systems crashed. Whatever game Victor is playing, the answershaveto be in that code. In the patterns I spotted before everything went dark.

My fingers brush against something … one of my backup tablets. The battery is dead, has been for a few days, so the virus won’t have touched it. It means the data will be intact,ifI can get somewhere I can access it away from my network.

If so, it means I can try to take a better look at the virus, and unlock the puzzle Victor has laid out. He knows how I think, knows I’ll try to preserve crucial information before shutting everything down.

“What’s that?” Glitch’s voice raises slightly, and I tilt my head, listening.

There’s a sound … something that doesn’t belong in the silence of the room. A low vibration, more felt than heard. It travels up through my feet, far too strong to be any kind of normal structural movement.

“Knight—”

I hold my hand up for silence, focusing on the feeling. It’s growing stronger, accompanied by a deep bass note that I feel in my chest. My instincts scream that we’re out of time.

“Knight?” Her fear wraps around me. “What’s happening?”

The explosion hits before I can answer her. The blast wave slams against the outside of the building, and the force rocks through my workspace. Equipment crashes to the floor. The emergency light strips flicker, then die, plunging us into total darkness.

The heat from the explosion radiates through the walls. Based on the sound and impact, it originated from the building across from us. Exactly where my main security cameras would have been pointing if they were still online.

Victor’s first countdown just hit zero, and somewhere that second timer is still running.

Times up. We need to move.

But even as I think that, something else pushes its way to the front of my mind. That explosion wasn’t meant to kill me. It was meant to force me to move. Hewantsme in that maintenance shaft. Into whatever he has planned next.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Evangeline

The soundthat echoes through Knight's workspace is deafening, making the overheated air vibrate.

"In. Now." He barks the instruction, and I’m moving before I can think of a reason to argue with him.

His hand on my shoulder pushes me down onto my hands and knees, and then I’m crawling into the narrow space. Pain shoots up my arms, the metal flooring hard and cold against my palms, despite the heat radiating from the surrounding walls. The panel clicks shut with a finality that makes my heart race, and then Knight is moving, shoving me forward with one hand against my ass.

“Move.”

The crawlspace is tight, barely wide enough to move through. I can’t see a thing, the darkness all-consuming.

“Don’t stop.” Another rough push accompanies the word.

The heat from the overloaded equipment has followed us inside. The confined space is hot, and the metal walls trap every sound, from our rapid breathing to the sound of our shoes against the tunnel’s rough surface.

“Keep moving.” Knight’s voice is tight with tension, when I slow down again. “Someone is targeting the building. We need distance between us and the explosions.”

I edge forward on hands and knees, trying to ignore how the uneven surface tears at my bandages. Each movement sends fresh shooting pains through my wrists. The gauze is already starting to come loose, I can feel it brushing against my hand every time I lift it. Sweat trickles down my spine, making my shirt cling uncomfortably.

Another explosion rocks the building, closer than before. The force of it travels through the metal around us, vibrating up my arms. A small sound escapes me—not quite a whimper, not quite a gasp.

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