lanketing downtown. The kind of rain that didn't cleanse anything but instead dragged the filth d

pawn shops, and shuttered apartments. Sirens wailed in the distance,

rundown convenience store, a

her

called him

the people who dealt in stolen lives

erous. It was a mask, one that kept him alive in a world

n his fingers, its ember

ce. Eyes that once sparkled with youthful arrogance we

ken his real

t nee

dn't lo

he would make

y night. Underground cage fights. Surveillance gigs. Quiet hits. Deliveries that came with

pear. Learned to hu

all, he lear

es the night his family was murdered. His father's phone. Sca

e encryption, but once he

les. Scans of hand-w

any

. Military official

ct called "

angerous for the public to know. A blackmail machine. Anyone who opposed the system or

on had f

paid th

ne that cost his family thei

ntence for anyone

Mace-was the last t

failed to

e sure they remem

into the street and watch

the air as he exhal

et exited a sleek black car

Kellan

Now a man with a dark past b

les-one of the original architects. Tied to black site funding, data suppression,

, he was a he

was a butche

, he wo

ed the tim

ng was i

where a motorbike waited, blacked out, silent. Hidden

less than ten minutes. A private party. H

olation for wh

r his head, engine growl

red under his breat

be

ned theater from the outside, but inside... it was gold. Literally. Chandeliers. Velv

two nights ago. A silent takedown of one of Stroud's security

ng security cameras he'd already disabled with a well-place

across marble floors.

enter of it, holdin

ushed against the inner lining of his jacket where the knife waited-

t here for a

needed to

ame faster t

he main room, followed by his two bodyguards.

as the

str

er the movement before the knife s

reached for

sl

apped it, and buried his elbow into the m

ud s

oz

a

... w

rward, hood sti

rson J

t Stroud li

be dead,"

fir

pressed to his neck. Not enough to b

ped build it. You killed for it. You

ed, "Listen, I didn't know they'

it. You pr

t give t

benefited

s suit soaked in sweat despi

. You have no idea wh

," Mace said. "I know exac

ned in

oming for

-dar

. A toxin-non-lethal. Stroud

ious enoug

emem

f

hallway, phone clutched in his limp f

re the

led off the gloves, heart

hadn't

he

come for him

high-profil

would spark pani

as the

ed them

them sc

n't just

was

d disappeared into the mi

more names

s to be

lood t

five years, he didn't fe

ike he wa

rted in his heart the nig

never g

was an

just gettin