Page 132 of Twist of Fate

The bond flared.

Luke.

Connal cut down the man blocking his path and surged toward the door. A heavy body struck him from the side. He hit the wall shoulder-first. Pain cracked down his arm as he caught the attacker’s wrist an instant before the knife reached his ribs. Connal twisted until bone gave beneath his grip.

The man screamed.

Connal leaned close enough to see the fear in his eyes.

“Move.”

Connal threw the attacker into the floor.

The server-room door screamed.

He turned as the upper hinge tore free and the steel slab sagged inward. The two men braced against the damaged seam forced their way through the opening before Connal could reach them.

The bond pulled hard toward the opening.

“Luke!”

Connal charged after them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The sudden change in sound drew Luke’s attention.

Until now, the rhythm outside the server room had been steady. A blow against steel. The strained groan of the lock. Another blow. Something slammed into the corridor. A shout followed.

Then came the unmistakable clash of steel.

Luke tightened his grip on the metal brace he’d torn from the archive bay. Someone was fighting outside the door. Reinforcements, perhaps. Or another enemy who wanted the same ugly prize and had decided to cut through the competition first.

Either way, Luke couldn’t count on whoever won being there to help him.

The console flickered.

LOCAL DATA ARCHIVE ERROR.

LOCAL ROUTING OFFLINE.

ROOFTOP RECEIVER ACTIVE: INDEPENDENT MODE.

Luke stared at the final warning. “Rooftop. Of course.”

The servers had stored the tracking data and fed information to the receiver, but the local shutdown had triggered some kind of independent operation. The archive was destroyed. The basement system was no longer routing information.

The receiver itself was still active somewhere above him.

A new prompt appeared.

REMOTE DISCONNECT AVAILABLE.

Luke dropped the metal brace long enough to pull Hale’s keycard from his pocket. He swiped it through the console reader.

AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED.

“Finally.”