The Operator

And then Michael breathed them all in, resetting the world.

Peri stumbled, putting a hand to her middle as vertigo flashed and was gone. Her head throbbed, and she almost passed out as Michael pushed her farther back in time than she could manage on her own. I’m still by the lab bench, she thought, looking at the monitor where Helen was coming through the building, her security in tow. He’d have to take the accelerator again so he wouldn’t rub it out, but even as she thought it, Michael shot up with it and threw the empty syringe into a corner. Grinning, he used the handgun to motion them to the door.

“Out. Now,” he demanded, and when neither of them moved, he shot the floor. On the monitors, men began running. “Now!” Michael shouted. “Or the next one will be in Denier!”

Silas took her elbow and dragged her to the door. “This isn’t going to end well,” he whispered as they hustled into the hallway.

“Stairwell!” Michael demanded, and Silas made a fist and hit the fire alarm.

Alarms started honking. Michael pulled the gun up to shoot him, and Silas stepped into it, expression twisted as he got in Michael’s face. “I shut down the elevators, you idiot!” Silas exclaimed, toe to toe with Michael. “If we’re lucky, they are stuck between floors, and if not, they’ll have to use the stairs, too.” Silas yanked the door to the stairwell open. “Dumb-ass,” he muttered, pushing Peri in. He hustled her down the steps, turning to look behind him. “Think you can jam that door, string bean?”

“You need to shut up,” Michael said, but he was breaking the fire hose station for the ax.

“When did you become so good at this?” Peri said, and Silas bent close.

“When the draft ends, we have to get out of here,” he whispered.

“Isn’t that the point?” Peri asked.

Silas yanked her back out of the way as Michael ran past them. “I made the pill for you, Peri,” Silas said as Michael shot out the lock on the second-story landing. “No buffers, just the addictive properties. He’s going to MEP thirty seconds after the draft ends.”

“Like I said, isn’t that the point?” she whispered, shoving the guilt down. That she was going to kill Michael didn’t bother her as much as she was going to do it using his desire—a desire they both shared.

Silas grimaced. “Who do you think he trusts more? You or Helen? He’s going to kill you.”

Peri pinched the bridge of her nose, tired. But Silas was right. The man wouldn’t go down easy. He’d retain the ability to act for a while, time when she’d be vulnerable as the focus of his feelings of betrayal. She was going to forget, but Michael . . . he wasn’t. And she could use that.

“Promise me you’ll go. You can make it if you go alone,” Silas said even as they hustled down the stairs to Michael.

She gave Silas’s hands a squeeze. “It’s both of us, or neither.” She smiled. “I have a plan.”

Silas’s expression blanked.

Michael’s feet scuffed on the stair as they joined him. “Don’t fall behind, or I’ll shoot you myself.”

Peri squared her shoulders, jealous that in a few seconds, Michael would remember while she’d be left with hearsay and best guesses. And it is going to save my life. “I’m not the enemy, Michael,” she said as she made her methodical way down the last flight of stairs. “Helen tried to dart you so she could put you in a cage. She’s using you like they used me. They made you, Michael, and they know exactly what buttons to push.”

“Why are you still talking?” he snarled, giving her a shove to stay behind him.

“Because you aren’t thinking,” she said as Silas caught her elbow, saving her from a fall. “You saw Helen’s face. She was pissed that you worked around her. As far as she’s concerned, you fucked up. She didn’t want you accelerated because now you’re going to remember, and with that, they can’t lie to you anymore. They’re going to lock you up, Mr. Asshat.”

A door above them blew apart, and they all looked up, pressing to the walls when debris rained down. “Or they could blow the door open and come down the stairs anyway,” Silas said, taking Peri’s shoulder and pushing her toward the door to the lobby.

Vertigo hit her as she stumbled into the empty lobby. The sky past the broken glass door was black with night, and as she watched, it paled, flickered, and flashed clear.

“Go!” Silas shouted, pushing her to the parking lot, and she balked, trying to find herself.

She hadn’t drafted, but Michael had. She was missing the last minute and a half. She was running. Helen was here. They’d made it out of the lab. Someone had pulled the fire alarm by the sound of it.

“Run, Peri!” Silas was at the door, gesturing for her to go. “I’ll catch up.”

But she wasn’t going to leave him. Not now. Not ever. “Where’s Michael? Is he accelerated?”

Silas tried to drag her to the lobby’s shattered door. “He’s in the stairwell. I gave him your fix, not Evocane. He’s going to MEP. We have to get out of here.”

But they both jerked when a gun popped and a slug buried itself in the door before them.

“Stop right there!” Helen demanded as she strode out of the stairwell, her security and a dazed Michael behind her. “That was a warning. The next puts you down.”

“Three seconds too short,” Silas swore, turning with his hands high and wide.