nges whined, echoing in the damp, windowless hallway

"Sleep there," he muttered, not bothering to hide his disdain. He t

ack-jawed expression vanished from Areli's face

e knob. It clicked. Not enough. She grabbed a splintered wooden chair from the corner and jam

to the tiny ventilation grate near the ceiling and pulled the heavy, m

plastic sack onto her lap. Her fingers bypassed the old clot

l watch. The leather strap was frayed, the

asing. She tapped the edge of the dial in a

me from the center of the dial, sil

from the watch speaker. "Biometri

ld blue glow over Areli's face. A translucent, floating keyboard materialized in

s. She routed her connection through seven different proxy servers across thr

elligence broker forum. In the search

ive, highly classified d

ring. He controlled shipping lanes, pharmaceutical patents, and private security fir

ened his private medical file. She pulled up the brain and spinal scans taken

the world's top off-the-books medical specialist, 'The Surg

dow near the L4 verte

he edges of the shadow were too sharp. The density gradient

eport was a c

ppled tyrant of Manhattan wasn't crippled at all. He was

ysis to bait out a thre

ed red. A priority-one bounty notifica

eric string, but Areli traced the origin ping in

hore money laundering operati

Twenty Milli

s. She tapped her index finger aga

sical shield to get back into New York high society. But Finn was

ated as Spectre in the dark, she could drain his en

the 'Acc

wenty million dollar escrow loc

oed from the hallway outside her door. Footsteps. Ligh

m over the watch face. The hologram vanished instantly. T

aned, but the wooden chair wedged under t

ora's muffled, venomous voice hiss

s retreated

he thin mattress, staring up at the invisible ceiling. Tomorrow, she was