ed across the skyline, echoing like gunfire between the glass towers. Rain slashed the pavement in sheets,

t - again. His phone buzzed, but he didn't look at it. His eyes were focused on a dark van idling across the st

atching,"

ind him, soaked de

Brooklyn. Casualties. Two dead. Ri

ly. "Then they're

ted. "They le

ised an

ind of

Damon studied the image. It was Celeste's old school ph

na deve

een mu

d the photo

-

e her, a flurry of code and decrypted Vatican documents flashing across the screen. O

he found i

van Dr

ity. Disavowed. Disappeared.

who managed the silent accounts, the

uzzed onto her

mpromised. Pull out

d the laptop shut, shoved it in her

w to be an accident. She turned sharply at t

bo

lutched to her chest as she veered through traffic, nearly clipped

te wasn't

ugh the crowd, and ducked into an unmarked ser

xhale

from the sh

t's not safe t

Celeste said. "I fou

n turned cold. "

's raise

-

with an unlikely ally - a former MI6 strategist named Ezra

ass of vintage red. "He's a historian. A bloodline cat

ight. "And he's wor

funding the r

glass down. "I nee

few years in the Black Alps. Switzerland. Off-grid, encr

owed his e

cause she's not just Moretti

-

the rain ceased. T

Damon waited at the foot of a sleek black jet, coat flapping

we going?

ghost," h

e stairs witho

-

and. Bla

berate flakes as the jet landed at a discreet ter

e landscape from t

this Ezra?"

st anyone. I

lowly. "What

are the axis. The one ever

ecluded villa carve

flanked every doorway. At the center - a man

van Dr

d without standing. "You l

ffened. "Yo

ran from. And wha

ward. "We're here

brow. "And I'm he

u want?" Ce

dly. "Your loyalty

my father

softly. "You'r

-

ntire network: the black funds, the arms trades, the stolen relics buried in V

Drayden said. "Collapse faith, resurrect fear

s stone. "And w

hem - or de

of si

"Then I'll choo

Be careful. Kings fall qu

-

ft befo

stared at her refl

this," she sai

"I knew parts. Now

t him. "And

rs - cold steel

ar

-

, the first of th

exploded in a column of fire and twist

ties u

ssage

t protect

Moretti was

of ruin. Rais

e would bec