The auctioneer was a small man with a very loud voice.He stood at the podium under the golden light and tapped his gavel twice. "Ladies and gentlemen, the proceeds of tonight's sale will support the Hawthorne Children's Foundation. Please be generous. Lot One, a Tang dynasty jade horse, starting at fifty thousand dollars."The bidding began. Paddles rose and fell like white birds. A woman in silver bought the jade horse for two hundred thousand. A bronze mirror went to a banker for three hundred. A silk screen of cranes sold for half a million. Applause followed each sale in polite waves. Waiters passed through the rows with trays of champagne.Ethan sat in the third row near the aisle with his hands resting on his knees. Daniel sat behind him. Across the room, on the far side of the stage, Julian Sterling lounged in a velvet chair with one leg crossed over the other. He sipped from his glass and smiled gently at nothing in particular. Every few minutes his eyes drifted toward Ethan,

The rain had thickened into a steady drumming by the time Ethan reached Skyline One.He did not go upstairs. He stood in the underground garage next to the black car with his phone in his hand and the photograph still glowing on the screen. Daniel stood two steps away with his face drawn and pale. Neither of them spoke for a long time."They took her from her apartment," Daniel said finally. "Two hours ago. The doorman saw four men in a gray van. He thought they were movers.""She was working late on the ledgers," Ethan said. His voice was very flat. "She told me she would take them home tonight and check the old payments against the Pillars' names.""It is my fault, sir. I should have put a guard on her door.""It is mine." Ethan closed the phone. "I told her to dig. I did not ask how much danger she was in."A soft blue light opened in the air above the hood of the car.[Mission: Rescue Grace Tan.][Time limit: Eleven hours, forty-two minutes.][Reward: Intelligence Network, level t

The thirty-first of October dawned gray and quiet.Ethan woke early in the white bedroom on the sixtieth floor of Skyline One. The city lay hushed beneath a low sky. A thin mist clung to the glass towers like breath. He lay on his back for a few minutes without moving, listening to the silence. His ribs no longer hurt. The System had healed him during the night, as it always did. He felt strong, rested, and calm.Today was the day.He rose and showered and dressed slowly. For a long time he stood in front of the closet and looked at the garment bag hanging at the far end. The old gray one from Marquis & Daughters. He unzipped it and lifted out the midnight suit.The cloth was soft and heavy against his hands. Each button was polished bone. He put on the white shirt first, then the trousers, then the long jacket. He fastened the buttons one by one. When he looked into the mirror, a tall man stood there in a suit that fit him as if it had been made for him. His shoulders were broad. His