The man Bai senior had just woken from cryo, but his stride was sharp, posture perfect, eyes burning like they'd never closed. No fatigue. No adjustment period. Just immediate, clinical motion. Like returning to the world was a scheduled task he was already ten minutes late for.
"I designed this corridor for two exits," Bai Sr. murmured as they walked, hands behind his back. "The forward breach was always the fallback. But I see you used the west passage. Tactical, but not subtle."
Lucas kept pace, his coat blood-slicked and half-scorched. "Subtle didn't survive the front gate. We were welcomed with tanks and illegal shifters."
"Of course you were," Bai Sr. replied, almost disappointed. "The government doesn't play chess. They play blackjack."
Behind them, Ava's voice crackled in his ear through the bracer. She'd split off through the upper catwalk to monitor the perimeter.
