Page 62 of Travis
I didn't respond to that. I knew what the differential was. The differential was standing in the doorway.
I ran a final check on the comms unit. Pressed the earpiece, tested the frequency. Sera's station would pick up the signal from the control room. Maude would relay.
"Comms check," I said.
Sera straightened. "I'll be at my station in two minutes."
She held my eyes for a moment. Steady. No pity, no fear, no performance. She could see the welts on my arms and the tremor in my hands, and she wasn't looking away.
"Come back.” She nodded, then walked out toward the command center.
Two words. Not a request. Not a goodbye. Something in between that I didn't have a name for and couldn't answer without breaking something I needed intact for the next four hours.
I pulled the jacket off the hook and zipped it over the vest. That was it. The final moment where Travis disappeared and the Ghost took his place. A shape in the dark that nobody could describe afterward.
I still hated that fucking nickname.
The hives had spread to my chest and the skin under the vest burned against the plates. The tremor had settled into both hands with a low, steady vibration that wouldn't stop until I was back inside these walls. My body was fully committed to its argument against what I was doing, and I was fully committed to ignoring it.
I reached the door. Opened it. The night air hit the welts on my neck and they flared, a sharp sting that would settle into a dull burn by the time I reached the highway.
Sera's voice came through the comms unit, already live, already on.
"Corridor feeds are up. Patrol cleared the stretch eight minutes ago. You're clear to the highway."
I walked into the dark.
