The report had almost all of it—the Fixers, their newfangled tech, the strange psychological weirdness, the suicide vests, the resistance to Sandman, and the presence of Eve.

I omitted everything about Casanova, though, and I didn’t bother providing any explanation as to why I’d broken into the processing plant in the first place. That was need to know, and they didn’t.

As I typed, I could see them in the laptop screen’s reflective surface. The silent figures clustered behind me as if ready to take a family portrait.

“No,” I told them.

Ghost looked at me and then at the wall behind me. He came and put his head on my thigh. “It’s okay,” I lied. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

When I looked at the reflection again, there was nothing behind me but empty wall. I could smell something, though. A burned-meat stink. I tried to close it out, grinding my teeth together so hard my jaws hurt.

I finished the report and emailed it off, got up, walked into the bathroom, and threw my guts up in the toilet. Then I crawled back into the shower, wrapped my arms around my head, and totally lost my shit.

CHAPTER 112

PHOENIX HOUSE

OMFORI ISLAND, GREECE

Bug came out of his office at a dead run.

He found Church in the canteen, sitting down with a cup of coffee, a plate of vanilla wafers, and a stack of reports. Bug skidded to a breathless halt.

“What is it?” asked Church.

“It’s Germany,” he said. “Damn, boss, this is nuts.”

“Sit,” said Church. “Take a breath and tell me.”

“First, Joe trashed his MindReader substation. He’s gone dark again.”

“That was expected.”

“And we now know for sure why he was in Berlin. Toys called me from the parking lot of some black site prison with an unpronounceable name.”

Church stiffened. “Das Verarbeitungszentrum?”

“Yeah. That one.”

He explained that Toys, Violin, and Harry Bolt had tracked Ledger to the prison in hopes of making contact and either offering support or—ideally—bringing him in.

“The prison is gone, man,” said Bug. “I hacked into the news and police feeds, and it’s basically a burning crater. Total loss of life—all the guards and all the prisoners.”

“And Colonel Ledger?”

“That’s the thing,” said Bug. “They saw him get out. Him and Ghost. But they also saw a team of Fixers there, and they were wearing that body armor.”

“Which may explain the explosion,” mused Church.

“Eve was with them,” said Bug. “Violin thought she was running the crew.”

“Now isn’t that interesting?”

“Toys said that Joe mentioned a place in Germany he couldn’t get into and a prisoner named Casanova. I did the background, and he was on Kuga’s team.”

“Yes,” said Church. “Intelligence from one of our agents—Mia Kleeve, call sign Magpie—helped put him there.”