rizzle. Potholes jolted its steel frame, and the sound of distant sirens grew faint behi

following?

But they will. Wolfe's not the

white shirt-once elegant-was smeared with dust and blood. Her knuckles were raw, an

zzed louder th

s the key," Adrian said to

yscape-rows of warehouses, neon-lit bodegas, and the skeletal rise of

havior. Stock shifts. Political movements. He's feeding it data in real time and

rowned.

that maps personality-uploads memories into a virtual framework. If he

hilled. "Like d

ls. He doesn't want to dominate the world. He

t in Long Island City. The van's tires sc

Marcus called

arehouse and a chain-link fence strung with razor wire. A metal door

t. "We're five minutes early. That door shouldn'

the door. "And if

d tighter around the g

ink of fuel and rotting trash. Overhead, an L-train rattled

in his waistband. The gun felt unnatural in his hand-foreign, cold. He wasn't a soldier.

four times on

th

ne slo

opened

nt up. She motio

inside, low and hoar

ward. "Vivian Cole

partially obscured by a scarf and beanie. One eye was covered with

His voice rasped, t

ded. "He's

them in. "Come be

rs blinked in rows. Wires snaked across the concrete floor. Radios

ne?" Mar

r Wolfe before he blacklisted me. I helped write Genesis'

ranslation: you

ee bolts. "Vivian told me you embe

didn't even know it was a cipher.

orked. The algorithm hides in metaphor. Wolfe's team reverse-enginee

shed manuscript-the one you never fini

"I never sent

ptop. Wolfe had access to your cloud backups. He has everything-e

y. "I printed them.

d. "Where's t

. "In my father'

htened. "Then we g

remor hit

one f

darted to

. Three.

Armed quadcopters. Wolfe's fo

hts fli

, "They're jam

Adrian's shoulder. "That contains a decoder.

her gun. "Wh

shotgun. "I'l

an said. "

"I died the day I

. "Sewer line. Take it. I wired it to dump

didn'

-deep water. The tunnel smelled like rust, waste, and desperat

m, gunfir

cre

sil

d his fists. "

ly. "He died fighting.

lant. Moonlight broke through the storm clouds, washing t

two blocks away. Its paint was peeling

t the window as

efore Wolfe finds the

idn't lo

t l