Page 155 of Zenith Tower

“Open the gate.”

The latch on the witness rail had released with the doors. I pulled it wide. Delphine came through without waiting for help and fastened her coat over the records.

What had happened to Kieran was written down, and Delphine was taking it outside.

Across the chamber, Hale moved Kieran toward the west door. Kieran’s right arm hung close to his body. He stayed upright until a steward blocked the aisle, then used the man’s surprise at his condition to drive a knee into the steward’s thigh.

Hale finished the movement with a short strike beneath the ribs.

The steward folded. Kieran stepped over him.

Kieran’s breath caught. Hale tightened his arm around his waist and kept him moving.

Astra had not followed me.

She stood beside the panel table, facing the administrator. Walkin was on the other side of the stone between them. Marrow had reached the control station, but the administrator had wedged her body against its edge. One steward pulled at her arm while she kept her palm on the plate.

The west door began to close.

“Astra.”

She looked at me.

I held out my hand. She knew what I was asking.

She turned back to the administrator. “Come with us.”

“The doors close when I leave this plate.”

“We’ll hold them.”

“Not all the way to the lower wing.” The administrator’s breath caught when the steward wrenched her shoulder. She recovered without lifting her hand. “My authorization is holding the western route open.”

“Walkin will contain you.”

The administrator looked at Walkin. “I know.”

The control plate flashed beneath her palm. Somewhere beyond the west wall, another lock released with a heavy metallic strike.

“Every door records who opened it,” she said. “Get Delphine’s copy outside before Walkin changes that record.”

Marrow looked over his shoulder at Astra.

He drew a slow breath before Walkin spoke.

“Take the lower wing. Close every route to the bridge.”

The administrator looked directly at Marrow. “You watched what they did to him.”

Marrow’s gaze moved to Kieran, then to Delphine’s repaired hand.

Marrow released the control station.

He went through the east door at a run, calling stewards after him. The alarm had not yet reached the lower corridors. He meant to arrive before it did.

Walkin had sent our most dangerous pursuer ahead of us.

Astra still had not taken my hand.