Excerpt: Halcyon

He wasn't used to feeling the wind, aside from the gusts that followed cars down the roads. Zander rarely ventured up to sky level, having little to do with the business of those who could afford a view of open air. Many of the buildings surrounding the park still rose above it, but the city had designed it so that no roads crossed overhead. The park seemed feral, the untamed and asymmetrical trees and grass lost in shadow beyond the lamps along the paved path. Lights from the surrounding buildings glowed, but they seemed as far away as the stars hanging above. Zander had been out to the country before, and the stillness, darkness, and wildness of the natural land unsettled him. It was, however, under less surveillance than most other places in the city.

As he crested a hill along the path, he saw a lone bench thrown into sharp relief from the light of a streetlamp mounted on a pole. There the blonde woman stood. As soon as she came into view, he wondered what he was doing there. Yet, the nagging question of what she wanted remained. She could have killed him in seconds when she snuck into the hospital while he was recovering from surgery, but instead she offered him amnesty. It would make no sense for her to invite him here only to kill him, and she couldn't have asked him to come so she could ask that he hand over Elya. Curiosity had won out over common sense, and his uncertainty heightened when he noticed that she wore no visible gun.

Zander scanned the surrounding area, but he couldn't detect any other presences nearby. He paused halfway down the hill, just close enough so he wouldn't have to yell. “Where’s your partner?”

The woman stood still, hands in her pockets. Poised, but not ready to attack. “He’s dead.”

Zander remained as impassive as her. “Can’t say I’m disappointed.”

The drone of traffic murmured in the distance, her voice stark against the silence in the park. “He wasn’t a good man, but he was a good partner.”

Zander narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t call me out here for my condolences, or my apologies. What do you want?”

She shifted, raising her chin. “I want to make you an offer. You’re one of the only people to defeat me as thoroughly as you have.”

He shot her a hard look. “I seem to recall you got Chen, his laptop, and the dress.”

Her expression didn't change. “But not the girl. Despite my best efforts, you took her away from me and you kept her hidden. My employer wasn’t happy about that.”

“Rough luck for you. You’re not seeing her again.”

She shook her head. “She’s not my concern anymore. I’m no longer on that job.”

“So, what do you want?”

She gazed him in the eye, piercing even at her distance. “I want you to be my new partner.”

He leaned his head back and raised an eyebrow, perplexed. “Are you serious? You shot me off a moving truck and you’ve been hounding us for months. How do you expect me to trust you?”

She remained unmoved. “I was doing my job. I never held anything against you. In fact, I respect that you were able to evade me as long as you did.”

Zander shook his head. “Even supposing I was willing to work with you, I’m not a criminal.”

“Your current endeavors seem to suggest otherwise.”

“We’re trying to save lives, not destroy them.”

“Your skills are worth ten times what you make at a hardware store. Maybe a hundred times, depending on your wages.”

Zander's voice hardened. “Forget it. Maybe you’re telling the truth, but there’s no way I can believe you right now.” Turning, he began walking back out the park the way he came.

Her voice rang behind him. “Then let me offer you my services.”

He stopped in his tracks, nearly at the top of the hill, and turned. “What?”

“I can help you get your friend, and your data, back.”