cross the concrete walls. The scent of soldered metal and burnt circuits hung in the air, stale and ho

tween them, thick as cement. The man with the eyepatch-called himself Arlo-clicked keys on his ancient mec

o this is what rock

voice was low, sharper than before. "We're

ted. "Tec

y am I in the crosshairs of the most powerful

heel echoed like a gunshot. She

u were the only real thing I h

le of ashes and a half-burnt ring. You

traps with velvet and silk. He owns you without handcuffs. You think this is about money? I

red, "He s

e appeared-grainy drone footage. Vivian and Adria

atellite-level surveillance. He knows you're aliv

screen. "Why me? I'

written code inside your novels. Cipher patterns. Thi

d in prose. No coincidence. You stumbled on a seed algorithm tied to a decryption key. Wolf

ded. "I thought I w

id Alan Turing until

u. I didn't see it until it was too late. When I tried

let me mourn you for mo

I hadn't, Wolfe would've pulled your

r bange

t five minutes. Wolfe's men are sweeping Brooklyn in thr

. "They can't tr

with coordinates. "They don't need to. They're not looki

shelf. Inside, weapons. Handguns.

wed. "We're r

h him. "We don't run t

containers and rusted warehouses. The wind had picked up again. Thunder cracked low in the

Arlo rode in the back beside Adrian, holding a tablet that dis

ridge," Arlo said. "Standard box forma

west," Viv

red, condemned, its windows smashed like broken teeth. Ivy strangled its walls, and the l

s a line of sight over three s

"You're plann

brain apart and rewire your bones int

ded Adrian

s a relic from another lif

"Then you'd better sta

howling around them. The metal groaned beneath their weight. Adrian's palms burned, scraped raw by rust. His breath came shallow. But at the top,

ng. Her breath was steady. "Shoot tires

er, heart thundering. "W

istol, "we go public. Expose Wolfe. His

anyone will

. "They will when they s

arch

nly you ca

t, headlights cutting through th

out. Suits, earp

ispered,

t. One man leaned out the window, scann

raised

ed to a stop behi

she h

split th

dropped, screaming. Adrian aimed and squeezed the trigger.

and hurled a flashbang into th

he dark like a

aos. Footst

s time hitting a rear

ed, "Snipers

off the metal t

rian down. "Go!

nees, metal burning their hands.

eir retreat, firing in short bur

nto the fog of

an, Adrian s

e seat beside him,

ight?" s

man's car,

's a

eeching. Arlo activated the

zone in Queens. The person waiting there has the final key

trembled on his la

es. "Then we die.