p to Caden's chin, making sur
one resting on her nightstand vibrated with a
gainst her ribs. She had used cash for the cab, but she had hailed it through the city's digital transit app on her phon
short. Arla Noel
in the hotel room-the steel handcuffs, the blood
ny corner of the heavy curtain. She stared out into
he trees. But the heavy, suffocating sensation of be
ened her banking app and wiped the digital receipt for the yello
p beneath the bustlin
underground command center. The air was cold, smelling of ozone
black tactical shirt. The deep gashes on his wri
g the center of the room. His assistant, Jalen, was typing
hair around. He held out a physical file folde
the file. He
Arla Noel stared back at him. Her face w
tracing the line of her jaw. His jaw muscles
he adopted daughter of the Sargent family. Currently e
ric pressure. The air turned freezing. Ewald's eyes sna
ordered, his voice a
r in Long Island," Jalen swallowed hard, pointing to a blinking red dot on t
iv
e Sargent family's private social accounts. I don't mean to overstep, but..." He turne
wald repeated,
torm. Six years ago. The night the hotel's surveillance blacked out. The night you missed your schedu
ith dark hair and a stubborn chin. He wasn't looking at the camera-he w
er scanning
low, steady metronome, sla
scent that had pulled him back from the edge of a flashback that nearly destroyed him. He'd thou
if it had
olled breath-the kind he to
wald demanded, his voi
ulling up another document. "Publicly, he's conside
was unknown. She had never reported it. Ne
Initiate level-one surveillance on the Sargent Mano
burning into the pho
ntact sample acquisition. A hair follicle. Saliva
ented allocation of military-grade r
tone leaving zero room for debate. "Highest
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