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 a

urrounded 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