Neon Shadows

The reflection in the glass was a perfect portrait of betrayal. Chloe, her face partially obscured by the shadows of the lab, holding a gun that had been my only line of defense for weeks.

"How much?" I asked, my voice flat. I didn't turn around. I kept my eyes on the vial, the clear liquid that represented Elena's life.

"Enough to disappear," Chloe said. "Enough to never look over my shoulder again. The Broker doesn't just pay in cash, Aria. He pays in immunity."

"He'll kill you the moment he has what he wants," I said. "You know that."

"Maybe," she admitted. "But at least I'll die rich."

She stepped closer, the muzzle of the gun pressing against the base of my skull.

"Hand it over."

I gripped the vial tighter. It was cold, condensation slick under my fingers.

"If I drop this," I said, "it shatters. No cure. No deal."

"Then don't drop it," she said. "Turn around. Slowly."

I turned. Chloe was tense, her finger resting on the trigger guard. She looked tired, the bruises on her face stark under the harsh fluorescent lights.

"We fought together," I said. "We survived the bunker. The island."

"Survival isn't a team sport," she said. "It's a solo act."

She held out her free hand.

"Give me the vial."

I looked at the gun. I looked at the vial.

I thought about Elena, waiting in the sub, fighting a battle inside her own mind.

I thought about Dante, alone in the basement, trusting us to watch his back.

"Take it," I said.

I tossed the vial.

But I didn't toss it to her. I tossed it high, over her head, toward the far wall.

Chloe's eyes snapped up, following the arc of the glass. For a split second, her gun wavered.

I dropped.

I swept her legs out from under her. She hit the floor hard, the gun skittering away across the tiles.

Before she could recover, I was on her. I pinned her arms, driving my knee into her chest.

"You should have taken the shot," I hissed.

She bucked, throwing me off balance. She was strong, trained. She rolled, grabbing a scalpel from a nearby counter. She slashed at me, the blade catching my sleeve, drawing a thin line of blood on my arm.

We scrambled to our feet, circling each other.

"You can't win," Chloe said, panting. "The Broker's team is already in the building. Felix let them in."

"Felix?" The name was a punch to the gut. "No. Felix wouldn't."

"Everyone has a price, Aria," she sneered. "Even your tech boy."

She lunged.

I blocked the strike, grabbing her wrist. I twisted, hard. She cried out, dropping the scalpel.

I shoved her back into a rack of metal shelves. Vials shattered, chemicals spilling onto the floor.

"Stay down," I warned.

She laughed, wiping blood from her lip. "Or what? You going to kill me? Like you killed your father?"

"Yes," I said.

I grabbed a canister of liquid nitrogen from the bench.

"If I have to."

But before I could move, the lights in the lab flickered and died. The emergency red strobes kicked in, bathing the room in the color of blood.

The door hissed open.

A figure stood there.

It wasn't the Broker. It wasn't a guard.

It was Felix.

He was holding a datapad. He looked terrified.

"Aria!" he shouted. "Get down!"

He tapped the screen.

The fire suppression system activated.

Not water.

Halon gas.

It flooded the room, sucking the oxygen out of the air.

Chloe gagged, clawing at her throat. She stumbled, falling to her knees.

I dropped to the floor, pulling my shirt over my face, trying to find a pocket of breathable air.

Felix ran in, a rebreather mask in his hand. He shoved it onto my face.

"Breathe," he commanded.

I took a deep breath. The sweet, metallic taste of oxygen filled my lungs.

"Felix," I gasped. "You... you didn't sell us out?"

"Of course not," he said, helping me up. "I just needed them to think I did."

He looked at Chloe, who was unconscious on the floor.

"Is she...?"

"She'll live," Felix said. "Headache for a week, but she'll live."

He pointed to the far wall.

"The vial," he said. "Did it break?"

I looked. The vial I had thrown was shattered, a wet stain on the floor.

"It's gone," I whispered.

"No," Felix said. He reached into his pocket.

He pulled out a vial. Identical to the first.

"I swapped them," he said. "In the sub. Before we left. I figured something might go wrong."

I stared at him. The tech geek who panicked at loud noises.

"You're brilliant," I said.

"I know," he said, grinning weakly. "Now let's get the hell out of here before the Broker realizes his prize is a fake."

We ran for the service elevator. But as the doors opened, we stopped.

Dante wasn't there.

The elevator was empty.

But there was something on the floor.

His gun.

And a trail of blood leading away, down the dark corridor toward the security hub.