She nodded her head. “The Ghost Drones have triangulated his position. Based on that and the decrypted comms, they placed the mansion as his final destination with a 98.2% probability.”

“But why?” I asked. “Who is he? How can he know about us, and why would he care?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” said Belinda.

She reached down and turned the last page. “This is him,” she said, tapping the last picture.

I took a step back in surprise. “That’s the Technomancer?” I asked.

“Apparently so,” said Belinda, a little confused. “Why, do you know him?”

“I should say so. He tried to kill us less than 24 hours ago. Astrid, look, that’s him, isn’t it? The leader of the PentaTech goons we fought back in the woods? The one that ran away after we killed the rest of his guys?”

“Holy shit!” Astrid exclaimed. “You’re right! That’s him, no doubt about it!”

We all crowded round the mugshot of the psycho who called himself the Technomancer.

There was no doubting his identity. He was the shaven-headed leader of the gang who had tried to take us out back in the woods when I’d first met Astrid. He was younger in his mugshot, but he had the same distinctive scar down one side of his face, the same gray, dead eyes, and the same thin-lipped, cold, expressionless look to his face.

“This raises more questions than it answers,” I mused. “What’s this guy doing mixed up with PentaTech? What’s he doing leading elite kill teams in the woods, teams that just happen to be within a stone’s throw of Kyrine’s mansion?”

“Does it matter?” Kyrine said, sounding genuinely interested. “If he comes here, we will kill him. We will toy with him and any he brings with him, causing them to expend as much mana as possible, then we will make them all die horribly and I will consume their essences.”

“Sounds good to me!” Astrid said laughing, and Belinda nodded approvingly.

“Woah, hold on a minute,” I said, holding up my hands, “we’re just going to, like, execute these guys? I mean, I get that he’s a nasty piece of work but come on! No trial, no due process, just me as the judge, jury, and executioner?”

“Is that a problem?” Astrid said.

“If it helps,” Belinda put in, “we have the very highest authority to proceed with this mission.”

I turned on her, my sudden revulsion at the idea of killing again making me speak more harshly than I had meant to. “The highest authority? What, your agency? Some agent I’ve never met? I’m supposed to become a murderer just because you say it’s ok?”