n't stop thin

very move he planned - haunted by flashes of the woman

smoke, leaving behind a trail

ackg

ootp

p

ky - fully formed, deadly, and wearing t

ttered with empty folders, reports that yielded not

No social security number. No birth certificate. No bank a

ather creaking under his weight, his fingers

to himself than anyone else. "Ghosts don't wear c

t trust

quered

rm inside his boss. "Boss... maybe she's not here

morless smile - a sharp, cold t

y, dangerously, "wanting something is

seen wielded far too many times by thos

the scars t

-

Moreau estate like a shad

he walked, she m

ed, she memorized - timing ro

's defenses she cataloged for the

-draped halls, the illusion of in

knesses lived: behind gilde

sn't dressed in

she wor

le

isi

vit

was her fi

was protected by layered security. Guards outside. Cameras ang

tched. She had list

skill sharpen

ghtly as she slipped inside, c

moke, and something darker - the scent

ookcase, just to the right of an ancient

hin gloves over her hands - a

rt didn

g remained s

she had burned out

ric - cutting-edge,

smirked

nic long enough to k

or's calibration cycle, and a little sleight of hand -

k rewarded

ng open on s

si

ons and bribes scrawled i

erage over senators,

- passports to u

almost forgotte

journal bound i

e rest of the ru

s per

s val

over the journal, the lea

nner pocket of her jacket

uld be t

es of the man who once t

d the saf

rn

fr

f a floorboard under weight -

into the nearest shadow

side, a storm cloa

hority, every line of h

ected to find

er's instinct she remembered a

kness, heart steady, body coiled

toni

t

ept the room, sha

h suspended between predator and pre

d to sense the disturbance in

within inches of

ld her

ow and bitter, and moved towa

door like mist before the

ootp

sou

he ghost of her presence,

-

rescent moon, Catalina paused at the edge of the

carrying the distant hum of Domini

studying the house she had onc

udy still burned, a be

had already been stolen from him. Unaware that the found

ver the hidden pocket where the bat

tle hadn't e

ould fee

un

ques

beneath his careful

im, tightening like a noose. The way trust would erode among his

ly realized the s

already b

the house, her steps sil

over of the trees, a sharp pr

asn't

n memory, sharper than fe

he warm golden light, Dominic Moreau st

at the spot where

yes did

he felt it - a thread str

er's i

t's pr

the darkness before

r had

there would b