Retrieval

The alarm didn't give a warning. It just screamed.

* PROXIMITY ALERT. AERIAL DRONES DETECTED.*

Kael spun around, grabbing his pulse rifle. "How did they find us?"

"My chip," Aris realized with horror. "When I accessed the mainframe... it must have pinged the grid. I led them here."

The bunker shook as a missile impacted the blast doors above. Dust rained down.

"Get to the panic room," Kael ordered, shoving Aris toward the rear of the bunker.

"No," Aris argued. "I can disable them. I just need time to—"

"There are twenty signatures!" Kael yelled. "Hunter-Killers. You can't hack twenty at once."

He dragged Aris to the heavy titanium door of the safe room. He shoved Aris inside.

"Kael, don't," Aris begged. He grabbed Kael’s arm. "You can't fight them alone. You’re stable, but you’re not at 100%."

Kael looked at Aris. He leaned down and pressed a hard, desperate kiss to Aris’s forehead.

"I’m a Chimera," Kael grinned, though his eyes were sad. "We’re built to die for our Siphons. It’s in the code."

"Rewrite the code!" Aris screamed.

"Stay alive, Aris."

Kael slammed the door. The magnetic locks engaged.

Aris ran to the console inside the safe room. He brought up the security feeds.

He watched in high-definition horror. Kael charged into the main atrium of the bunker. The blast doors blew open. A swarm of sleek, white drones poured in—machines of pure logic and violence.

Kael fought like a demon. He tore the wings off one drone. He blasted three more out of the air. But they were too fast. They swarmed him, firing taser-nets and tranquilizer darts.

Kael roared, swinging his rifle like a club, but a drone clamped onto his back, shocking him. Then another. And another.

Kael fell.

The drones didn't kill him. They clamped restraints onto his limbs.

"Subject Voss secured," a mechanical voice broadcasted. "Initiate transport to Reconditioning Facility."

They dragged Kael away.

Aris stood in the silence of the safe room. He was safe. He was alive.

He looked at his hands. They were trembling.

Logic dictated he stay put. Logic dictated he wait for the heat to die down and then flee. Kael was a lost asset.

"Logic," Aris hissed.

He reached up and clawed at the back of his neck. He felt the ridge of the Clarity chip.

"Fuck logic."