“I was following her lead.” I hesitated to say Quanta’s name. The last time I’d seen that frenzied flush reddening Darren’s cheeks, he’d ordered a kill strike. “She seemed tired this morning.”

“Tired isn’t a good enough reason to rewrite her schedule.” His knuckles whitened where he leaned against the wall. “Skip the shooting session. I want you both in the holo room. Now.”

“Of course,” I said, trying to sound reasonable. “I’ll walk her there.”

“No. You won’t.” Darren folded his arms. “You’ll go wait down the hall and stop throwing out opinions that no one fucking cares about.”

My muscles contracted. I wanted to take a swing.

Just one.

I could almost taste it. But Darren’s cold smirk froze me in place.

Shit.

He was bating me and I was the idiot rising to it. If I so much as touched him, he’d have me tossed from the building in thirty seconds with no second chances. If he didn’t just have me killed. Then there’d be no chance at all for Quanta.

I jammed my hands in my pockets and nodded. “I’ll be waiting.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” The frenzy faded from his eyes, replaced with smug satisfaction.

I turned away to spare myself from looking at him, but my muscles still twitched and it was all I could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

The thought of leaving them alone together…

My hands balled to fists. Quanta had dealt with him this long. She could handle one more day.

Even if it killed me.

The farther I moved from Darren, the more my thoughts cleared. But now what?

I’d put the odds of us surviving another holo session at one percent. We’d restarted this day, but were heading straight for the same conclusion.

As soon as I reached the holo room, I leaned against the doorway to keep myself from pacing. I had no weapons, I was comically outnumbered, and every aspect of this facility was designed to keep me or anyone else from causing trouble. I could overpower a guard or two, but I wouldn’t get anywhere fast, and it would ruin the chance for any subtler plan.

I had nothing on my own.

Footsteps made my head snap upward. Four guards surrounded Quanta and she looked grim, her lips pressed into a tight line. Darren trailed behind them.

“I have a headache.” Quanta pushed past the guards who made way for her as she moved to Darren’s side. She grabbed his sleeve. “Can’t we go swimming?”

I knew she was acting. She was simply using the few weapons she had to steer us both away from another death scene.

“You can’t swim,” Darren said.