n top Aria's desk l
No name, no
as a sleek s
a n
oor. Mid
as if it may be on th
floor. In all, it has just floors 1 to 10, then a penthouse. But sh
was not
nning a business. He wa
as inviting
ap? Or somet
nig
dow. Most of the lights were out, with nothing but the blue glow of emergenc
a ghost. Caref
he slid the keycar
chiming
er 11 gl
was g
eath h
its occupant's heart, and the doors slid open-the world s
floor was n
command
satellite feeds, encrypted data streams. The aurrounded it. Black stone carved out of
had a file f
d: ARIA
ing in her ears as
n-but also financial reports, university tr
ing that made h
pass
of t
ank. Pers
staggerin
echoed b
tu
cc
lar. Deep shadow
u c
re life," she hisse
tected
eep? By recording
he said, cal
ary for
p you
ater, the
asked f
d now. You made sure of that the s
sank. "You k
d you w
d have st
e tightening. "Because I wa
. "Do you think
hink thi
she hadn't seen before in his eyes-
table in this city would be ready to burn
y show m
u're alread
ood we
t selling secrets to the highest bidder. And last night, she saw
wh
e who wants
and pulled out a phone. Unl
ity feed. Footage of h
man in a black hoodie placing
said. "We disabled it
a whisper. "
bom
swa
by the elbow,
rmured. "This is no
ep back, brea
've told m
lling y
do you
before r
finally:
long to you
ou just don't know whether th
rashing down on
e wors
even know t
-
woman stepping out of the 11th
wa
eone who had a secret keycard in h
own her a minutely sma
only the
going to sur
ide what she was