ncoln

ge of reporters still clogging the intersection. A cameraman thumped his fist against th

ow of the tinted windo

of the broken-all of it had evaporated like morning fog. What remained was abso

d the wind

o admit the smell of exhaust and burnt

ilding, the revolving door spa

a second skin. He was listening to something the chief counsel was saying, some procedural

rom behind, phone exte

eys. "You seeing this? Twitter's melting down. Brock-Peck wed

d came up, palm out, and pushed Dex

e car that would take him back to the Sterling-Rhod

sto

with his back. Vaughn didn't notice. His body had gone rig

. A window crac

hat cabin, a pair of e

dismantled, who should have been weeping or raging or hiding from the world. Instead they held no

hing that made Vaughn think of predators in

bs, a single violent thump that

ncoln's black glass. He waved a hand in front of his fr

ow began

toward the closing gap. He wanted to see her face-needed to see if the rest of her

d with a soft p

ic and slid into it, disappearing into th

hand finding his left cufflink, thumb working the o

x said. "Or you've final

cture-remote, controlled, the mask that had served hi

ame out lower than intended, r

ng behind with questions he didn't answer. The rear door opened. V

ilence for

rcom and said, "Get me e

voice, professio

adn't bothered to learn. "Evelyn. I want her history, her finances, her medical r

Mr. Sterli

t the passing city, his thumb still circling the cuffli

ks south and turning west,

The Fifth Ave

ansformed. The cold was absolute now, a force field tha

d. "Pier 59. The w

ss, that's-those buildings are condemned. H

s found his

dropped ten degrees, and Frankie felt something ancient and reptili

owed. "Y

hem away from the Upper East Side, away from the gilded cage of the

exist in consumer catalogs. Her thumbs moved over the screen in a blur of input-coordina

resse

ed green: TRANSM

d, counting silently, beginning some