of the library district behind. Chloe sat in the back, her ey

she could perceive. Time within the space was completely static. A hot meal place

alance of just over eight million dollars. A fortune in this world. In the w

n her chest. By sunset, that number would

Queens. The air smelled of diesel fumes and damp concrete. Chloe paid the driver and got o

straight for the largest building, a corrugated metal giant with "

large, florid man with a cigar clamped between h

and tapped her knuckles

and down. A young woman in a hoodie and jeans. Hi

lowing a plume of smoke in her

e chair opposite his desk and sat down

and even. "Thirty tons of flour, twenty tons of rolled

ound was loud and mocking. "You're kidding me, right? What is this, a prank?" He gestur

ut a sheaf of papers, sliding them across the desk. It was a professionally print

said, the lie rolling smoothly off her tongue. "This is our i

arrowing. The letterhead, the legal jargon, the notarized seal-it all look

bag again and pulled out a slim laptop. She opened it, connected to

the screen

And at the top of the screen, a current account balan

oleum floor. The color drained from his face. The contemptuous wholes

r scraping loudly against the floor. "Can I get you some

her, her money did. In this w

esk. "In addition to the grains, I'll need your highest-quality dehydrated vegetables, vacuum-sealed

stockpile. The quality of her surviv

mmered, nodding eagerly. "Only t

o this address." She handed him a slip of paper with the coordinates of a derelict warehouse she'd sco

ugh. The money was real.

ore calories that would sustain her through the comin