Chapter Twenty
Mira sat cuffed in the same chair Cho had once occupied, in the middle of the makeshift prison in Gallowood House.
More cuffs had been added to her ankles, and a small table sat in front of her.
She looked no worse for wear from the chase, though her cropped hair was messy.
Beneath the tattoo on her bronze neck, a faint bruise was forming.
Christian stood between Hawk and Imara as they watched the interrogation unfold on a large electroglass screen outside the holding cell. Claude and Yosef were next to them, taking notes. Philip stood behind them all, his brown eyes narrowed in quiet calculation.
Inside the room, Ahna paced a slow circle around Mira. Confident, precise, unapologetically in charge.
“You gave us quite the chase,” Ahna said, her voice calm but cutting. “I’d say you’re lucky you didn’t catch a grav pulse to the spine. My partner could’ve landed that shot in his sleep.”
Mira didn’t flinch. “I’ve been hit before.”
“Mm.” Ahna tapped once on the table. “Let’s skip the warmup, shall we? We know you’ve been running goods to the Dissent. We want locations, inventory, names. And if you lie to me again, you’ll wish you hadn’t.”
“I’m not a Systems citizen,” Mira said, blinking slowly. “You don’t have jurisdiction over me.”
“You’re on Systems-controlled territory,” Ahna replied cooly. “That makes you ours, whether you like it or not.”
Christian didn’t blink. He stood rooted in place, arms crossed tight against his chest, his jaw locked so hard it hurt.
“She’s way too confident,” Imara murmured under her breath.
She always had been excellent at reading people. It’s what had made her an excellent thief and conwoman before she’d passed her Trials.
Philip’s gaze shifted to her. “What else?”
Imara leaned in slightly, narrowing her gaze. “She flinched when Ahna said ‘inventory,’ but not at ‘names’ or ‘locations.’ Either she’s been smuggling something valuable, or she’s worried we’ll trace it back to someone higher up.”
“Useful,” Philip said. Then, to Ahna through his SARTF earpiece, he said, “Push harder.”
Ahna didn’t need to be told twice. She leaned over the table, palms braced against the surface. “We know you’re not acting alone. You’re not smart enough to organize a whole smuggling route by yourself. Who are you working with?”
Mira just smiled.
“Yosef,” Philip said, nodding once.
The man didn’t speak. He simply moved. The door hissed open, and his boots echoed as he crossed the threshold into the room. Christian watched closely, a sick knot twisted in his gut.
Ahna stepped aside as Yosef approached. “Last chance,” she said. “Talk.”
Mira tilted her chin. “Go fuck yourself.”
Yosef didn’t blink. He pulled a narrow, black case from his belt and opened it on the table, revealing a single silver coil.
Christian’s breath hitched. He recognized it from his days in the Falaichte. It was a nerve filament, thin enough to slip between vertebrae and calibrated to overstimulate every pain receptor without leaving permanent damage.
He took a step back from the electroglass screen, bile creeping up his throat.
Yosef inserted the wire beneath Mira’s collar. She gasped at first contact, tensed hard enough to rattle the cuffs.
And then Yosef activated the coil.
Mira’s whole body arched as a stifled scream clawed its way from her throat.
Christian’s fists clenched at his sides.
Ahna’s voice cut through Mira’s strangled breathing. “Tell me who’s running the drops. Who’s the contact on the inside?”
Mira shook her head. Another burst of voltage. Her boots scraped against the floor.
“This needs to stop,” Christian growled.
“She’s hiding something,” Claude said. “No one takes that much without cracking unless they’re afraid of what happens if they talk.”
Philip’s voice was sharp. “So, we break her loyalty.”
Ahna stepped closer to Mira’s chair. “You think this is the worst we can do? Tell us who you’re protecting. We’ll make it easier on them. But keep stonewalling, and it’s not just you who suffers.”
Mira’s jaw quivered, but she pierced Ahna’s face with a death glare.
Yosef shocked her again.
“I swear,” Christian growled, “if they don’t stop—”
“That’s enough, Mister Holm,” Philip snapped, to which Christian’s nostrils flared.
Ahna leaned in and spoke every word as its own sentence. “Who are you working for?”
Mira took a long, shaking breath. Then, barely above a whisper, she said, “She comes in person.”
Ahna pushed. “Who?”
Mira closed her eyes. “Nadine. Nadine Proctor. She inspects every shipment herself. No one moves anything without her say.”
Everyone in the room went still. Christian’s pulse spiked.
“Nadine Proctor is running their supply lines?” Claude glanced up from his notes.
“Could be bait,” Hawk said. “Could be she’s lying.”
“No,” Imara said. “Look at her eyes. She’s telling the truth. Besides, if I was Nadine, I would want to inspect everything myself too.”
Claude looked to Philip. “With your permission, I’ll start mapping the smuggling routes Mira may have used. If Nadine inspects shipments directly, the base must be close.”
Philip nodded once. “Do it.”
Inside the chamber, Ahna loomed over Mira’s slumped form. “Where is the Dissent’s base?”
Mira pressed her lips closed and shook her head, refusing to speak.
“You have one more chance before I let my friend here shock you again.”
“Even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell you,” Mira seethed. “There are Dissent cells all over the city. I’ve never been to the base.”
“But you do know how to get in touch with Nadine, yes?” Ahna pressed.
When Mira refused to answer, Ahna nodded at Yosef, who activated the coil again. Mira’s shriek even made Claude flinch.
Christian balled his hands into fists, sweat running down his neck. Memories from the Falaichte flooded his mind—the screams as Paulo “punished” them, the blood, the vomit, the tears, the pain . . .
He needed to stop this.
Christian moved to rush into the room, but Imara grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t.” She spoke just loud enough for him to hear. “You can’t help Gemma if Philip locks you away for insubordination.”
Christian growled and stepped back into line.
“Answer me,” Ahna commanded Mira. “How do we find Nadine?”
Mira’s body was covered in sweat. She groaned with every shallow breath. A drip of blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
“Encrypted . . . relay . . . beacon,” Mira could barely get the words out.
“What are those?” Hawk asked.
“Small devices that send electrical signal patterns from one device to another. Similar to how mankind used Morse code back on Earth,” Claude answered, frowning.
“There are an infinite number of codes Mira could send. She could say she was sending Nadine one message but transmit an entirely different one altogether. I don’t like this. ”
“Stay calm, Mister Gereaux,” Philip replied. “Let’s see how this plays out before we start planning worst case scenarios.”
Ahna pushed. “Where is this beacon?”
“At . . . the drop . . . point,” Mira replied between breaths. “But only I . . . can activate it.”
“Biometric signature?” Yosef asked.
Mira nodded.
“Fuck,” Claude said. “That makes it even harder. We can’t just convince her to teach us the code. We’ll have to take her with us.”
Philip tapped on his SARTF earpiece. “Miss Abioye.”
Ahna faced the camera and pressed on the comm in her ear. “Sir?”
“Ensure her cooperation,” Philip spoke from behind Christian. “Promise her whatever she wants.”
Ahna turned her attention to Mira. “What would it take for you to lure Nadine to your drop point?”
Mira scoffed. “You’re not fucking serious. She’d kill me. Literally.”
“We can guarantee your safety. And in exchange for helping us, you can have whatever you want. Just name it. I can’t promise we’ll make an offer like this to you again.”
“Doesn’t mean she’ll get it,” Claude mumbled as he typed furiously into his electropad.
Mira ground her teeth while sizing up Ahna, as if looking for honesty behind Ahna’s blank stare.
She was right to do so, Christian realized with a sharp pain in his chest. Mira couldn’t believe a single word the Systems said.
They were just another tyrant, like every other person with power and too big of an ego.
What did that mean for Gemma, then?
“I just want to get off this fucking rock,” Mira said at last. “You make that happen, and I’ll get you Nadine.”
“Done,” Ahna said. “Where is this drop point?”
“Citizenship first. Show me you’ll uphold your end of the bargain.”
Ahna shook her head. “That’s not the way this works. We hold the leverage right now, and we can’t trust you won’t stab us in the back. We will protect you while we arrest Nadine and get you back here safely afterward. Then you will get your citizenship.”
Mira wiped her tongue across her upper teeth as she held eye contact with Ahna. At last, she sighed. “Fine. We use one of the old smelting tunnels.”
Imara gasped. “Is she fucking insane? Those places are toxic.”
“Only if you don’t know where to step,” Christian murmured.
“Does that mean you know the area well, Mister Holm?” Philip asked.
Christian nodded. Unfortunately.
“Patch in so you can feed Ahna information.”
Christian tapped on his SARTF earpiece. “Ask Mira which tunnel.”
If Ahna was startled by his voice, she didn’t show it.
“Which one?” Ahna asked Mira.
“Old Sector 6. Northeast quadrant. Near the old runoff tanks.”
Imara let out a breath between clenched teeth. “That one is bad,” she spoke through her earpiece. “Ask her how they avoid the toxic run off.”
“Isn’t that tunnel toxic?” Ahna asked Mira.
“It was, yeah. But you wear the right gear, you’ll live.”
“And she chose this place. Why?”
Mira snorted. “She says the stink keeps the cowards away. Systems pulled their drones when they started corroding. Nadine calls it her ‘dead zone.’ No eyes. No ears. No surveillance.”
“They’re insane,” Imara said. “They’re all literally insane.”
Christian spoke through his earpiece. “Ask her about the gear.”