a thick neck, a bushy beard, and arms covered in faded tattoos. He carried a heavy-duty toolbox that looked like a child's toy in

he center of the room where she had laid a large sheet of paper on

e job," she

uth fell slightly open. He traced a finger along one of the lines, as if trying to convince himself it was real. The

hat had gone slightly hoarse. "This isn't

hick, interlocking steel plates, covered with drywall to look completely normal. All windows were to be replaced with

rtment off from the outside world for weeks. And in the basement parking garage, in the two spots that came with the penthouses, she

under his breath. Then, louder: "This is... this is illegal as hell. The permits alone ar

cked up a black duffel bag. She un

k wrappers, the serial numbers sequential. They landed in a heap, then slid apart,

hundred-dollar bills cascaded onto the

ur job is to solve the problems with materials and permits. My job is to

his expression. He thought of his ex-wife's alimony-the payments he was three months behind on. His kid's college fund, barely a te

reed, a powerful and universal motivator, glittered in his eye

've got, and I'll have to pay off at least three inspectors. But..." He was

l text. He didn't read it. His eyes skimmed past the clauses, straight to the signature line. He grab

re agreement she'd prepare

splayed different data feeds: one showed a live audio waveform, the second cycled through security camera angles, and the third was filled with l

record. No traffic violations. No social media scandals. Her grades were average. Her credit history was clean but unremarkable.

ary people didn't have access to that kind

ghost in the machine. Trying to find the truth hidden beneath the surface. Who was this girl? Was she part of The Jackals? The organization had been hunting him for six months. They had tried to kill him three times. They were patie

ons. He created a new file in his surveillance database, tagged it with her name and apartment number, and set up alert

e of exhaustion. The adrenaline of the past twenty-four hours was finally wearin

the industrial outskirts of the city, to a sprawling wholesale market. Her first st

been cheating customers for decades and had gotten very good at it. He saw a young woman, alone, wal

She slapped a three-page, singl

ing rope and rappelling gear. Gas masks, filters, hazmat suits. And, at the bottom of the list, an order for several tons of qui

s narrowed. "What exactly ar

She just stared at him

e renovation. This was the shopping l

eady calculating markup in his head-double, maybe triple. She looked like she didn't know

o the counter and unzipped it just enough for him to see the

'convenience fee' is already factored in. Can you have the

by pure, unadulterated greed. He didn't ask for identification. He didn't ask where the money came from. H

amed. "Anything for

face. He licked his lips. Then he waved over a hulking, brutish-looking man who had been lur

that girl. Don't let her see you. I want to know where she's k

fingers curling into fis

ugly. "Then we pay h