a Vanc

of genuine relief that sounded almost tender, as though he had bee

s stream across the Longfellow Bridge. "I'm not going back, Fi

ction, thick with words he had never allowed him

ce rougher now, the professional mask slipping just enough for me to hear somethin

ffice only cared about ticket sales. We had spent hundreds of hours in the team clinic cross-referencing blood panels and load metrics. He was the only person inside th

"She is presenting my metabolic load model at the Ze

stract looked familiar. She's been parading around the facility w

" I said. "And I need the exact training protocol Sl

ars I'd known him. "I can register you as an independent clinical consultant through my medical credentials. As for Sloane's protocol, she logged it into the

took the formulas that maximize short-term power output and stripped out the neuromuscular safe

ce gentled, softening at the edges in a way that made my chest tighten

you,

ook-lined office of Dr. Edmund Sterling at Harv

and an international reputation that made university deans tremble

eepling his fingers. "Our corporate counsel has secured the provisional patents on your adaptive neural framewo

t at the Zenith S

ling. "Let that socialite present her stolen to

at by early afternoon, sat at

final loose en

ormal email from my

Assistant to the

ce, Performance S

: Resig

ce Consultant for the New York Titans. All active player files have b

nbox. If I had, he would have assumed it

n resources and Nathan Col

Hartf

their guaranteed floor is twenty million below our valuation!"

nce table. It was two in the afternoon, and the broadcast

the room, holding an iPad against his chest. He sto

ket and tossing it over the back of my leather chair. "U

esitantly, stepping forward and offering the tablet. "It just ca

, taking

nation note sta

mmediately,

chest. I tossed the iPad back onto

it," I sa

ed. "Sir? You want me to accep

some library seminar, and now she's throwing a tantrum because I had to work through our breakfast. Let her sit in Cambridge f

" Nathan murmured, though

y integrating their new injury protocol with the training staff. Her methodologies ha

athan said quietly, retr

tension knotting between my shoulder blade

Call the network back. We ar

ts. She would come home when her credi