The receiver mouth opened wider, ready to accept whichever proof struck hardest.
That made every hand on the bridge dangerous.
Ty pulled his broken finger against his chest and kept the bone chip in sight. The chip stayed seated inside the receiver groove, but the groove around it kept shifting. One tooth leaned toward the case. Another leaned toward the buried ring. A third rose under the old fire cut where Blue's broken fuse had fallen.
The rank had broken clean through the track.
Proof stopped standing in order, and everything on the bridge tried to be first.
The case body understood faster than they did.
It slammed both hands against the glass, and the frame jumped under JJ's shoulder. Skin spread across the panel from inside, broad and flat, searching for the open receiver mouth with every line the seventh cut had left behind.
JJ slid one foot back and took the hit through her hip.
"The case is trying to arrive first by brute force," JJ said.
