a could see the gears turning behind his eyes, search

tense silence. "A broken pendant? Are you re

Her gaze was fixed on Burke, unblinking. "It

strange, silver thing with an industrial design. He had always ass

sity. "If you want money or the apartment

voice like steel. "And my other personal items. Return

istina knew he had his promotion review next week. A messy,

ear as she whispered, "Just give it to her. It's worthle

Dragging out a legal battle over a piece of junk

'll have someone pack your things and del

ut her engineering instincts immediately flagged a warning. His t

r side. "It must be intact, Burke. If there is a single scr

bed, his towering frame trying to intimidate he

ck at him, her bloodshot eyes refusing to yield

rse walked in carrying a medication tray. She pa

form jacket. His face reset to the stoic military officer.

lingered for a moment, shooting Christina a lo

shaky breath. The adrenaline was fading, leavi

gan to dissect the pendant. She visualized the intricate grooves on its surface. They weren'

ant wasn't an antique. It was a piec

t her fingers trembled so violently she nearly dropped it. The information overload from

counting the rhythm, manually suppre

yption key military tech." The results were sparse, mostly theoretical paper

, who had just been in earlier. She looked a

her tablet. "And your EEG results... they're abnormal. We've never seen this pattern of high-frequency neur

The hospital's monitoring system h

ed smile. "Just a lot of n

e on the tablet. "Try to get som

at the closed door. She was on the

help her control the terrifying power exploding inside her head. She looked out the window at the d