sia's clutch as her town car sliced

tance-urban wolves howli

ed behind her ribs w

littl

Gods knew

thumb to the note's cri

alt. And

coiled. Sil

eautifully

stop outside her b

ted window-a too-thin woman in a stolen suit,

who once tore out a rival's

het

n seconds to relive the Testing Grounds, Nero's unnatural stil

rs hiss

fr

eeked of bergam

e scent, too refined f

spread in predator ease, his black fatigu

ingers, catching slivers of

showed too many teeth. "Le

HOURS E

STING

y stank of sweat, gun oil, a

ther so-called "executive assistants"-all t

ecurity chief growled, "sep

d lie-lips parted just so, lashes fluttering with arti

p perfume, fear-urine. That one had cocaine. Th

dossiers on a steel t

a grainy still of her mid-shift

f

ves cocked his pistol. "Find

ghts w

ESE

NTERR

her coffee table, splitt

d. Born 1995.

outh's records show she died i

c, re

e kitchen. Her fingers

p a corpse

ke a curtain of smoke. "The real Lydia

. The realization

g. His scent was salt, smoke, and something else-som

?" he murmure

Bo

dge. The cleaver han

hance,

his mouth wa

sw

is grip vise-strong. The cleaver

r. His fingers tangled in her hair,

re from the Bl

oze. H

u smell like lies," he whispered, "and lightning." His te

MINUTE

BA

lit lip. She spat ont

sizzled, searing her skin, turning the interroga

skimmed her personnel

three years," he mused. "A bit

sounds classier than

rely looked at it before s

her-stood amidst the gutted corpses of

wasn't the plan. The mission ha

igna

d hand pressed a carved Blackmoon

orough," s

o corrected. "Your fat

"Here's what happens next. You tell me everything Cyru

f I re

scalpel. "Then I

ed the

. And it doesn't distinguish be

the glass. Something shifted in

OF

flinch. "I want

ant

to you

in re

and bared her teeth. "And you'l

l. Thick an

ked to the table. Pi

palm open wi

ia fl

ld welled from the wou

ill. Silent. Rev

e not

oice soft. "I'm

Contin