The shocktrooper’s forefinger curled over the pistol’s trigger. Somewhere in the back of Jay’s mind, a small voice told him it was all over.

He gripped the cable and held tight. His spine itched. Before he knew what was happening, his muscles contracted as though someone had shocked him with a mild current. He couldn’t have let go of the cable if he’d wanted to. A fiery tingle burst through him. Into the cable. Pain writhed through him.

Above, the shocktrooper’s grip on the cable tightened. Her body shuddered fiercely. Two rounds burst from her pistol. Her aim was off and they cracked past his shoulder. The pistol followed the rounds, falling down the shaft. The shocktrooper’s grip on the cable finally failed. She dropped too, knocking into him on the way down, sending him into a spin.

He shut his eyes and held tight until the pain trickled away.

There was an echo from far below as the shocktrooper hit the elevator roof. ‘We’re out of time!’ Nasira’s voice jolted him, bouncing off the shaft walls. ‘Are you going to just hang around or shall we get the hell out of here?’

Jay breathed hard. He peered around his cable and spotted her on the ladder.

‘Where’s the other shocktrooper?’ he called, annoyed that his voice came out a bit shaky.

Nasira pointed down. On the roof of the other elevator, he saw the second shocktrooper enshrouded in gloom, body still and limbs bent into unnatural angles.

‘How did you do that?’ he said, his voice less shaky this time.

‘Two rounds to the head. The simplest solutions are often the best. Although not as electrifying as yours.’

Jay sneezed. It sounded like a foghorn as it echoed down the shaft.

‘Pretty sure everyone in the entire facility heard that,’ Nasira said.

Jay cleared his throat. ‘I get that a lot.’

***

Jay didn’t quite know how, but somehow he managed to get himself over to the ladder where Nasira was waiting and follow her out the emergency access hatch. He looked down to find himself soaked in blood and sweat.

Nasira loaded a fresh mag into her P90. ‘That electrogenic shit you got going on there, not too different from mine. Electrical fields, magnetic fields. Suppose you’re handy to have around.’

‘Magnetic fields?’ Jay said.

Nasira tapped her head. ‘Magnetite. We all have it, only mine actually works. Comes in handy.’

‘Yeah, great,’ Jay said. ‘I always wanted a human compass.’

‘We need to move.’ Nasira started into a run.

Jay ran with her. ‘I need your pistol.’

Nasira checked her pistol, then handed it to him.

‘Where’s my radio?’ Jay said, stopping.

‘Oh.’ Nasira drew to a halt. ‘It came off me when I was on the elevator. Let’s just pray Lucia disabled the reactor then.’

‘Lucia and Damien.’ Jay fed a round into the chamber of the P99. ‘Hell, you don’t seem like the praying type.’

She took the safety off her P90. ‘You mean I don’t seem like the type that wants to metaphorically eat the flesh of a zombie called Jesus so he can make me immortal and cleanse me of my sins that were put there because a talking snake told some naked tart to eat fruit from a magical tree?’ She smiled. ‘Shall I take that as a compliment?’

‘I think you’re better off injecting yourself for immortality.’

Nasira chuckled. ‘Just replace the talking snake with Denton.’

She was quiet for a moment and her thoughts seemed to restack.

‘The records,’ she said, feeding a round into the P90’s chamber. ‘Of your past. They won’t change anything. At least . . . they didn’t for me.’

‘Don’t you want to know everything?’ Jay said. ‘About your past.’

Nasira started walking again. ‘When I was a little girl, I did ballet and beat boys up. The records didn’t fill the void inside. Didn’t fuel it either. There was no closure.’

Jay licked his lips. ‘Then where’s the closure?’

She gestured to his pistol. ‘At the end of that barrel.’