I move, weapon raised, flashlight cutting through the dark. The beam catches movement ahead—a figure, running, shoulder clutched, blood trailing on the floor.
The stranger. Jasper’s shot from earlier caught him in the arm. He’s wounded but still moving fast.
I fire.
The shot goes wide—moving target, awkward angle—and the bullet sparks off the wall. He doesn’t slow, doesn’t look back, just keeps running toward a door at the end of the passage.
He reaches the door, slamming through it.
“Stop!” I shout, knowing it’s useless.
The door closes with a hollowboom.
“Fuck!” I slam my fist against the metal once, twice. The door doesn’t budge.
He’s gone—escaped through whatever exit this leads to. It probably surfaces somewhere on campus, far enough away that we’ll never catch him.
One target escaped.
“Lost Marcus,” I say into the comm. “Locked door. He’s out.”
Jasper’s voice crackles back. “Edmund went a different direction. Still in pursuit.”
“On my way.”
I retrace my steps, moving fast back through the junction, taking the passage Jasper went down.
I push harder, following the direction Jasper went. The passage twists, narrows, then opens into what looks like a maintenance area.
“Jasper, I’m in the old mechanical room. You close?”
No response.
“Jasper?”
Static.
Shit. The tunnels must be interfering with the signal.
I move through the machinery. It leads between two massive boilers, a gap barely wide enough for a person.
Then the tunnel opens up again—a larger space, maybe thirty feet across.
And in the center: Edmund Mercer.
He’s standing, not running, one hand pressed against his side where blood seeps through his expensive suit, the other holding a small pistol—.38, probably.
Aimed at me.
“Talon Reed, I should have known you’d be the persistent one.”
I don’t respond, just keep my weapon trained on him, looking for an opening.
“You realize this is pointless, right? Even if you kill me, even if you kill James, the Syndicate continues. It’s bigger than any one man—bigger than all three seats.”
“Maybe. But you’ll still be dead.”
“True. Though I have to ask, was it worth it? Burning your life down for one girl?”
