Chapter 26

It’s working. What we considered a failure at the first pass has proved to be a total success. This is the project that’ll put my name in the history books, never to be forgotten.

—Councilor Marshall Hyde to Dr. Upashna Leslie (17 July 2068)

IT WAS DIFFICULT to avoid bear surveillance.

The only reason the Watcher had tracked down their prey was pure unpredictable luck. They’d seen their prey in the bear’s vehicle while driving in the opposite direction and, even as their heart raced, had made a slow turn that wouldn’t attract attention.

It had been almost too slow. They’d just caught the tail end of the StoneWater vehicle entering the underground garage of an apartment building the Watcher knew was owned by the bears.

At the time, the Watcher had driven on.

Now the Watcher was on foot. They could never be fully confident that the bears didn’t have eyes on the street. So the Watcher became just another person walking along the rain-washed street below the third-floor window where Theodora Marshall currently slept.

It had to be that apartment; the Watcher had passed by this building multiple times over the preceding week, absently noted the single set of dark windows. They had considered checking to see if it was available as a rental before shrugging off the idea; the central location was a drawcard, but the Watcher couldn’t risk eliciting bear attention. Now, one of those windows glowed gently, perhaps from a light left on in a hallway.

A Marshall in the city after all this time.

Slipping off their backpack with the ruse of searching within it for something, the Watcher took one more glance at the window.

A Marshall.

In Moscow.

Could it be? No, surely not. Marshall Hyde had been as jealous as a spoiled child when it came to his special project. He hadn’t told anyone.

No, this had to be about some other business matter.

Still . . .

“Theodora,” the Watcher murmured under their breath as they walked on, their skin hot and their pulse rapid. “2.7. Pax Marshall’s twin.” The Watcher knew that because the Watcher knew everything about the Marshall family.

Had to know.

The entire operation hung on a steady supply of Marshall money.

They’d have to think carefully about their next step. And they’d have to keep on watching.