d glass canyons of Sterling City's financial district. People hurried along the sidewalks, heads

had grabbed the keys from the safe inside the secret study, along with a pair of her mother's old jeans she'd kept

lent, carpeted, and smelled faintly of a lemon-scented cleanin

d her key i

dn't

ng. The key wouldn't e

original lock. It was a new, digi

ged the locks o

The sheer, unmitigated gall of it. He wasn't j

t was to kick the

id ne

le, mental interface. A series of empty squares. She focused on the square where she had stored the tool

r arm. She could feel the rough grain of the wooden handle against her palm, the cold heft of the steel head. Just like the glass of Spr

he security camera was at the far end, by t

back, raised the

n a shower of plastic and wires. A deep g

ed out. Ms. Foster. She stopped dead, her eyes wide with shock as she took in the scene

Ms. Fost

her voice perfectly calm. She gestured to the broken keypad. "I

door a shove.

d Crystal's cloyingly sweet perfume. The apartment was a mess. Cl

ad turned her proper

he still-stunned realtor. "He'll be here in ten minutes to i

ything in this apartment that doesn't belong to me gone. Today. I don't ca

showings. I want you to call your list of cash investors. Tell them a highly motivated

eam of a massive, easy commission. She was already tapping furiously on her t

," Arlena said. "V

enaline began to fade, replaced by a cold, clear sense of purpose. Th

st life, she'd heard a man named Mr. Miller rave about their bunkers. She scrolled throug

hollow-core doors. The large, vulnerable windows. In her last life, a mob o

new list in

eter reinforce

id steel,

tary-grade ba

ank vaul

ced against f

ic

und wate

Locksmith finished. Movers are on their

ied with a

work. Finding the lock changed. Finding all his and Crystal's cheap, tacky belongings piled

ng built. The war ch

ontrol, one violent,