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REN

Princeton, New Jersey

T he Priest stood stone-still as a trickle of blood ran from his mouth. He dropped to his knees, then fell forward onto the hardwood. Steady appeared where the assassin once stood. He blew on the barrel of his gun like an old west sheriff.

“Well, well, well, if it ain’t the pincushion from the bar. Devious fuck. What did the kid call him? Shadow Man?”

“Hired help,” Ren said. “He’s been Stella’s shadow for months. Probably just tracking her at first, then he got upgraded to hitman.”

“Why the promotion? What changed?”

Ren walked out of the workroom and glanced into Milton’s office. The whiteboards and stacks of papers were gone. “The scientists at the lab must have deciphered Milton’s breakthrough. Theo Stritch can access the research for the working drone.”

Steady corralled Ren’s spiraling thoughts. “One thing at a time, brother. Let’s find Stella.”

“And kill Stritch.” Ren strode back into the workroom.

Steady walked around The Priest’s body and slapped his friend on the back. “I like this new Ren. High octane.”

Nodding toward the corpse, Ren said, “Thanks.” A simple thank you was enough. They had saved each other’s lives so many times over the years, Ren had lost count.

“Don’t mention it. I’ll text Chat to send a team to deal with the local cops. It’s his first week on the job in New York. This’ll be a nice how-do-you-do.”

Remembering The Priest’s comment about the black site, Ren said, “I’ll let Twitch know wherever Theo Stritch has taken Stella has a treacherous road leading up to it. Maybe that will narrow the search.”

Ren picked up the drone.

Steady nodded his head to the object. “That what all the fuss is about?”

“This is Pluto.”

“What’s it do?”

“He tracks human DNA. I provide a sample, and Pluto searches an area for matching mitochondrial cells.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

“Easy? Steady, this drone represents ten years of research and hundreds of millions of dollars in funding. He’s going to find Stella.”

“Does it work?” Steady asked.

“We’re going to find out.”

“And you just happen to have a DNA sample of your girlfriend handy?”

Ren looked at the strands of dark hair wrapped around the crown of his watch, the memento from his and Stella’s first time together at the hotel in England. “As a matter of fact, I do.”