hined, echoing in the damp, windowless hallway. The smell

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

goofy, slack-jawed expression vanished from Areli's

It clicked. Not enough. She grabbed a splintered wooden chair from the corner and jammed the backre

ver to the tiny ventilation grate near the ceiling and pulled the heavy

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

center of the dial, silently sweeping across her

from the watch speaker. "Biometri

e glow over Areli's face. A translucent, floating keyboard materialized in the air abo

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

elligence broker forum. In the search

e, highly classified dossi

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

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

he tapped her index finger against her

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