eelchair to face the door w

l. Despite the pale, sickly cast of his skin and the sharp hollows beneath his cheekbones, the raw, un

ing mid-sentence. They turned in unison and stared at Ayla, their

and a face permanently set in a condescending frown-let out a lo

kind of joke? We are fighting for Mr. Lawrence's life, and you bring a teenager in here? A ch

rs, her stride unhurried and confident, stopping exactly three feet in front

gle, long finger

apped his mouth shut so fast his teeth clicked to

ce was a low, gravelly rumble that seemed to vi

od. She didn't look away from

his legs, which rested motionless and dead on the polished metal footplates of the wheel

condescension. "MRIs, CT scans, spinal taps, full heavy metal panels, even experimental nerve conduction studies. There is no biologi

the wrong place," Ayla said, her voice cracking throu

e anyone could even process her

, deeply buried muscle cluster on Aron's left calf, her thumb

his holster. The harsh, metallic click

and again, palm f

aw, his gun half-ou

er into the nerve bundle, r

ed between his dark eyebrows-the first sign of sensatio

peeled off her black leather gloves and tossed them carelessly on

ing directly into Aron's eyes. "It's po

oom e

clean! We've run toxicology panels six times! There are no toxins in his system! No heavy me

a variant that doesn't exist in nature. It was engineered specifically to evade detection. It doesn't bind to the blood. It binds to the bone marrow. It i

His pupils dilated so rapidly

ope-a meeting that was supposed to be secure, a location known only to

ted like mist, replaced by a burning, violent spark

nt movements and pulled out a small glass vial filled with a liquid that seemed to

blue liquid. "It will strip the toxin from the marrow and temporarily halt the neurological d

casting Ayla in shadow. "No way. Absolutely not. We need to send that to t

in reaches his brain stem in two. Less than two hours." She rolled the glass vial idly between her finger

only sound was the frantic, accelerating beep

stared

p at Ayla's calm, unflinching face. She didn't

out his han

ic bleeding into his voice. "We don't know her! We d

om Ayla's fingers with a

a challenge and a promise wrapped together-he popped the cork with his t

e blue liquid i

the armrests of his wheelchair until the leathe