pte

st They

agitators," "foreign interference," and "isolated incidents." But those who had been there knew better. Blood on the

la hadn

tion when he worked the overseas black zones. Only one man she knew carried the codename Zero in the corridors of i

spoken of but never seen. He didn't command respect. He conjured fear. He was said to have neutralized a South Asian election scandal with a single s

to

omething-o

ouse o

t marked on any map, but she remembered it from the three summers she'd spent here as a child

say, was the onl

or was

ndfather clocks. Pocket watches. Gears frozen in time beside those still ticking.

simply refused to show it. His gray b

low thunder that once scared off nightmar

the drone,"

eaning back. "I s

ons, and Gh

a trap. Raphael admitted he knew about the rally. Knew Damian was planning "something pu

r job now?" I

thought I was CIA," he said. "I was. But not like the rest. I wasn't recruited. I was made. Trai

ed her t

ian in Berlin, Damian speaking to stranger

atching him?

e. I merely in

's 't

tive. A shadow cell deep within the agency. Not e

elt the air

Damian have to

then said quietly: "He's the fuse. Not the fire. They want to light him. Ignite

Broke

war by dismantling its communication grid overnight. They cal

ing different in him. A sl

phael said, speaking of Damia

the one col

with slogans and marches? I've killed for less noble causes. If Dam

lp him,"

lread

el said, "I taught h

the halls of ticking time, trying to understand the man who had raised monst

maps, digital intercepts, marked photos. One showed the rally from abov

: a man

ces of it alo

bedded-into code, into thought, into histor

t wage war.

festo was Damian's face-dr

began to feel like countdowns. Every step away from the h

n her no clear answers. Just more questions wrapped in espionage, betra

on that Damian had

being

ed her encrypted channel to Damian's last known c

y came in

ive. But

deployed P

rust anyon

second

een pinged twice f

shattered

rolled, hea

teps receded. T

anifesto to her chest, g

ame ha