Page 414 of Scars of Fate

Five feet.

Four.

Three.

I lifted Wynn and threw her toward Adam.

He caught her beneath the arms and dragged her through.

The steel barrier dropped to my chest.

I hit the ground and slid.

Metal scraped across my vest.

For one second, I stopped moving.

Wynn grabbed my arms.

Adam seized the back of my vest.

Together, they pulled me through as the barrier slammed into the floor.

The passage behind us disappeared.

No retreat.

We reached the end of the tunnel.

A reinforced glass door separated us from Level Nine.

Beyond it stood a laboratory untouched by time.

Computer terminals lined the walls.

A cylindrical chamber occupied the center.

One physical-key slot waited beside an encrypted-drive port.

Two biometric panels flanked the controls.

The permanent Aegis failsafe.

Hawk approached the access panel.

“It requires the source archive, the original tag, and both custodians.”

“We have the drive,” I said.

Wynn touched the pocket beneath my vest.

“And we’re both here.”

Roth looked toward the empty key slot.

“But Kane has the tag.”

A shadow moved inside the laboratory.