Wade stood alone on the roof of Garrett Automotive at 4:47 a.m., the hour when even the merged city seemed to hold its breath, a fragile, false peace before the coming storm. The air was cold, tasting of ozone and the metallic tang of the river portal below. It churned like molten glass mixed with liquid nitrogen, a beautiful, terrible promise of annihilation.

Above him, the containment lattice waited in its reinforced case, glowing soft and steady, the way Laken’s eyes had ...