[POV: Sofia Lanka]

"Keep your head down and don't make a sound until we’re past the secondary checkpoint, or I’ll be forced to explain to the warden why a high-value prisoner is walking through the service tunnel in a janitor’s jumpsuit."

Sofia didn't argue. She didn't even breathe as the heavy-set guard, whose name tag read Miller, shoved her through a narrow iron door that smelled of damp concrete and ancient rot. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered with a rhythmic, dying hum, casting long, jittery shadows against the sweating walls. Sofia clutched the oversized canvas shirt around her thin frame, her knuckles white, her heart hammering against her ribs like...