LOCATION: BACK ALLEY, NEW EDEN LOWER BLOCK

TIME: 4:54 a.m.

The body slumped in the alley was still warm.

Lucien crouched beside it. Gloved hand over the pulse point. Nothing.

Another ex-syndicate courier.

Third one in two days.

All of them had something in common:

They once reported to Rafael.

And now?

Their throats were slit with surgical precision.

Too clean for chaos. Too sharp for chance.

A message.

Solene stepped beside him.

“No blood spray,” she murmured. ...