“How could that be?”

  “I don’t know.” He tapped on the notification. Short and simple.

  ROOFTOP

  Son of a bitch.

  Someone had planted the drone on him. Someone who had followed him from Hall’s apartment without him noticing. Leonidas, whoever that was?

  Cassidy moved to delete the message but it vanished on its own, likely wiped from the system without a trace. He turned back to Shell. “I need to go look at the rooftop.”

  “I thought we just agreed there’s nothing on the rooftop?”

  “You said your system only keeps six months of recordings.”

  “That’s right.”

  And scrubbers never looked back that far either. It was an unnecessary waste of time and resources. Nevis and Dorne would know that. Were they responsible? Hall knew that too. Not because he was a Special Investigator. Rather because he had been in the program and didn’t make the cut. But how would Hall have guessed he would decide to hole up at this specific hotel?

  Unless he hadn’t made the decision after all. Had hall subconsciously delivered him here? The thought sent a chill down Cassidy’s spine. Who was driving who?

  “I need to go to the rooftop.”

  Chapter 23

  Shell put her thumb against the security panel next to the rusty rooftop door. It unlocked with a whining clank, the mechanism threatening to jam before releasing. Cassidy pulled the door open, remaining beneath the protection of the stairwell. Overhead, amidst the intensifying rain, free-flying rotos criss-crossed the sky outside of the lower altitude lanes of traffic. He stared at a massive cigar-shaped roto easing upward on nearly three-dozen spinners.

  “Bizrathi Praan,” Shell said, noticing the roto too. It was impossible to miss as it rose toward one of the spires. “His family’s company built most of the seawalls in the northern hemisphere.”

  Cassidy stared for a few more seconds before returning his attention to the rooftop. His eyes slid along the pipes to the ventilation exhaust and its HVAC system, and then across to the other extrusions.

  “The UnityComm signal tower is behind us,” Shell said. “I’m not supposed to know this, but the owner gets nearly half a million per month to lease the rooftop. We’re one of only a few tall structures in the city that doesn’t have roto parking. Less risk of the tower getting hit that way. Are we looking for something in particular?”

  “I don’t know,” Cassidy said. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

  “All of this stuff is visible from the feeds,” Shell replied. “Pretty much the whole roof is covered. If there was something up here, I’m sure you would have seen it.”

  “Yeah, I probably should have,” he agreed. But the message clearly told him to go to the rooftop. And Hall had clearly helped steer him here. He had never heard of a repo directing a Shade before, but Hall wasn’t a standard repo. He had nearly been a Shade himself. And he knew all about how the Initiative worked. “I’m going to take a look around anyway.”

  “Suit yourself,” Shell said. “I’ll wait in here where it’s dry.”

  “You don’t have to wait at all.”

  “Color me intrigued. Besides, it beats the hell out of sitting behind the front desk watching reruns.”

  Cassidy lifted the hood of his raincoat over his head and stepped out into the downpour. The drops were so large they echoed as they pelted his coat, the sound so loud it could be heard over his splashing as he walked across the rooftop. He stopped at one of the HVAC maintenance panels and turned the latches holding it in place. He lifted the panel away, looking inside. Too dark. He took out his ClearPhone, using it to light up the entire compartment. Nothing. He put the phone back in his pocket and replaced the panel, moving to the next one.

  There were three panels on the unit and he checked each one, coming up empty. He continued around the unit, examining everything on the rooftop but finding nothing out of the ordinary. Looking back toward the stairwell, he noticed Shell at the edge, curiously watching his every move.

  Turning his attention to the UnityComm installation, he crossed the rooftop, waving to Shell before moving around the far side of the stairwell. The communications array was a big, dark base with dozens of antennas of different thicknesses rising out of it. Lined with flashing lights to keep the rotos clear of it, the main spike ascended nearly a hundred feet into the sky.

  Cassidy approached the base of it, stopping in front of the security screen protecting the access panel to its right. He tapped on it, shaking his head when it asked for a fingerprint and a passcode. If Leonidas wanted him to get inside, they would have provided the necessary credentials.

  He walked around the tower, the opposite side bringing him close to the edge of the rooftop. He leaned over and looked down, unafraid of the height. It was four in the morning, and the night crowds had already been replaced with the morning group. Even from his position, he could tell the complexion of the traffic had become more deliberate, without all the sluing around from inebriated drivers.

  He examined the tower, coming up empty again. He didn’t understand it. The message couldn’t have been more terse or more clear. Unless someone was supposed to meet him here and had never made it. He sighed and started back toward the stairs.

  His ClearPhone vibrated in his pocket.

  Cassidy dug it out and activated the screen. The contact ID was blank, the interface unfamiliar. The drone had deposited more than a message on his device. He glanced at the comm array before tapping to access the message.

  A man’s upper torso and head projected above the ClearPhone’s surface, slightly fuzzy as it was consistently intercepted by the rain. Cassidy didn’t know him, but he could tell the man knew Hall.

  “Cassidy.” the man said. “Is that you?”

  Cassidy froze. The man didn’t just know Hall. He knew him and that he was shadowing Hall. “Captain Dorne?” he guessed.

  The man smiled. “I can’t believe we pulled it off.”

  “Sir?” Cassidy said. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

  “Yes,” Dorne agreed. “As far as Unity is concerned, I am dead. Or was. They have to know they’ve been tricked by now. We don’t have a lot of time. It took you longer than I expected to come up to the rooftop.”

  “You’re hitting me through the array?”

  “A direct line. Custom software.”

  “That means you’re close.”

  “Close enough.”

  “What is this all about, Captain? I don’t understand.”

  “It’s been hours for you, Cass. Decades for me. Listen carefully. Unity. The Underworld. It isn’t what it seems. Everything we’ve done.” He shook his head. “It’s bullshit, Cass. We think we’re helping people, keeping the peace, protecting our way of life and doing it in a way that’s more efficient and less volatile. It’s an incredible ideal, but it’s a lie.”

  “You’re saying that’s not what we’re doing?” Cassidy asked, confused.

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying. We’re being used, Cass. Unity, Hades, they aren’t what you think.”

  “Then what are they?”

  “It’s hard to explain. It took me years to catch on, and it only happened because of you.” Dorne paused to look over his shoulder. He seemed resolute but uncomfortable. “This is your forty-ninth job, isn’t it Cassidy?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “They won’t let you get to fifty. That’s one of the secrets they don’t want you to know.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nobody finishes their contract. Ten missions, twenty, fifty. It doesn’t matter. When you reach the end, you’re decommissioned.”

  “What?” Cassidy hissed. “Deleted?”

  “Not deleted. Indefinitely frozen.”

  “What about my body?”

  Dorne shook his head. “You don’t have a body anymore. It was destroyed as soon as the master was completed. As soon as the extraction was finished.”

  “It...it’s gone?” He couldn’t believe it. His whole body shook, his muscles stiffening in response to the revelation.

  “It was gone fifty years ago, Cass. I’m sorry.”

  Cassidy’s free hand clenched into a fist, his eyes tearing from his fury. He didn’t know how to process the concept that his body, the only one he could transfer into and survive long-term, was gone. “How could they—”

  “Easy,” Dorne said, pausing to look over his shoulder again. “Hades is a direct extension of Unity. We’re below the law. Shades in every sense. The moment we enter the Initiative, we cease to exist.”

  “But we had a contract.”

  “What are we going to do? Sue? I know how you feel, Cass.”

  “No, you don’t,” Cassidy screamed. “You knew! You knew, and you said nothing! You’re complicit in this.”

  He lowered his head. “I know, and I’m sorry.”

  Cassidy laughed. “You’re sorry? Are you kidding?”

  “Cass, there’s more. Do you think Hall risked his son just so I could tell you that? We need to hurry.”

  Cassidy cooled instantly at the mention of Nicholas. “He knew?”

  “He knew enough. We made plans of our own. I knew they would pull you out of the Freezer one more time if the mission was important enough. I told you way back you were valuable.”

  “How did you know they would transfer me to Hall?”

  He smiled. “I didn’t know for sure. But I did what I could. Shades are selected for a mission based on a number of criteria. So are repos. When I first got wind of Garrett, I made sure both you and Hall met those criteria.”

  “You altered Hades?”

  “I massaged some data. There was no guarantee it would work. I’m glad it did. Cassidy, we need you.”

  “Who’s we?”

  “All of us. Everyone.”

  “I don’t understand. Does Garrett have anything to do with this, or is he just a convenient excuse?”

  “He’s—”

  A sharp whistle drowned out Dorne's voice. A red streak hit the UnityComm tower.

  And the whole thing exploded.

  Chapter 24

  The force of the blast threw Cassidy backward, sending him sprawling into a deep puddle on the rooftop. Saved from severe burns by his raincoat and pants, his quick reaction gave him just enough time to turn his face away from the UnityComm array. Even so, he felt the heat of the explosion wash over him, followed by the fragments of metal punching into his clothing, smoke suddenly billowing overhead and a deafening roar overcoming his senses.

  He cursed silently, forcing himself back to his feet as quickly as he dared, still aware that a rocket had been fired into the array, with no guarantee he wasn’t its next target. Nevis had tried to keep him away from Dorne and had ultimately failed. Even if Dorne hadn’t gotten to tell him everything, there was a good chance he had said enough to make Cassidy expendable.

  His body shook with anger as he stumbled away from the array, ducking behind the first cover he found.

  It turned out he had always been expendable.

  He pulled the needlegun from its holster, tilting his head up and looking to the sky, trying to get a glimpse of whatever had fired the rocket. A drone? It had to be. He would have heard anything larger before it fired at him.

  He didn’t spot any drones, but a handful of rotos were changing course to get a better look at the damage to the hotel’s rooftop. Further away, even the huge Praan barge had slowed down so its occupants could get a better view of what had happened. Red and blue lights reflected off the clouds as well, indicating the police were also en route.

  Cassidy waited a few more seconds before rising from his cover. Hiding the needlegun behind his back, he hurried toward the stairwell, eager to get out of view. A police roto cleared the edge of the rooftop in front of him as he reached the side, its spotlight catching him dead-on and momentarily blinding him.

  “This is the Police,” a voice blared through a loudspeaker on the roto. “Put your hands up.”

  “I’m UDF!” Cassidy shouted. “I’m UDF! I’m reaching for my badge.”

  He slowly used his free hand to reach inside his suit pocket, removing Hall’s badge and turning it toward the roto. A quick red flash from the front of the vehicle indicated the officers were scanning it.

  “Confirmed, Detective Hall,” the officer said a moment later. “Someone will be up in a minute.”

  The roto rose slightly before passing overhead, shining its spotlight on the smoldering tower. Cassidy watched it for a second before returning to the stairwell, where Shell stood with a pale face, tight with fear. One shoulder of her cardigan had been singed black.

  “I knew it! You are UDF,” she said.

  “I was trying to avoid making it a thing,” Cassidy replied. “I’m working a case.”

  Shell smiled. “It all makes sense now. The glass, the tranq, the miniature drone, the gun, your attitude. What the hell happened?”

  “Someone nuked the Unity Comm array.”

  “I get that, but who?”

  “I’m not sure, but I have a couple of ideas.” He exhaled, trying to calm himself after everything Dorne had told him. Everything was at stake, he’d said. Cassidy didn’t know what that meant, but he definitely didn’t like it.“The cops are on their way up. The story is you brought me up here to check out a tip I got about an attack on the array. Got it?”

  “I’m not sure I should—”

  “Loose ends, Shell. If you don’t go along, the UDF will make sure you can’t ever talk about what just happened.”

  “What? Why would they do that?”

  “Just trust me,” Cassidy said. He couldn’t tell her the UDF was responsible for the explosion. That would be a loose end too, as soon as Mensah saw the interaction during the scrub.

  But would there even be a scrub? According to Dorne, the Initiative had no intention of letting him finish his contract. Or would they give him one last mission and then freeze him forever? He almost laughed out loud. Who was he kidding? They knew he had spoken to Dorne. They probably knew what he had said. How could they trust him after this?

  On the other hand, the drone that fired the rocket hadn’t attacked him. The message was loud and clear. Forget about Dorne, continue the mission. He was still valuable.

  Or was he bait?

  He didn’t have time to decide which was more likely, or if both options might be true. Footsteps charging up the stairwell attracted his attention, and he holstered his needlegun as a pair of city police joined him and Shell.

  “Detective Jeffrey Hall,” Cassidy said, showing them his badge. “Special Investigations.”

  “You got here fast,” one of them said. A woman, with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail that spilled out from under her rain-protective cap.

  “I was already here,” Cassidy replied. “I was chasing a tip that there might be trouble at the array.” He smiled. “I wasn’t expecting this kind of trouble.”

  “What happened?” the other officer asked. He was nearly a head taller than the woman, a little taller than Hall.

  “I came up to check on the array. As I approached it, I noticed a red flash. Then a rocket hit and it exploded.” He looked down at his coat, picking out a piece of shrapnel lodged in it. “Good thing I’m wearing protection.”

  “You SIs get all the best toys,” the female office said. “You’re lucky.”

  “Yeah. Anyway, I appreciate the PD getting here so quickly, but this matter is under UDF jurisdiction. We’ll handle it from here.”

  “Of course,” the male officer said. He pulled out his ClearPhone and tapped on it a few times. “If you could just confirm the transfer of jurisdiction, we’ll get out of your way.”

  Cassidy took out his phone. He tapped on it to receive the request, tapped again to confirm it. “Here you go,”he said, using his finger to send it back to the officer.

  “Thank you, Detective. Good luck finding whoever did this. Have a good morning.”

  “You too,” Cassidy replied.

  The officers turned and headed back down the stairs.

  “Special Investigations?” Shell said once they were out of sight. “You’re not just some random bureau agent. You’re hot stuff.”

  “Not really,” Cassidy said. “I just have a little more training.”

  “Yeah, right. My late husband was UDF, remember? It was his dream to make it into the SI department. He never made the cut.”

  “It’s not everything it seems like from outside,” Cassidy answered. The adrenaline was beginning to drain from his system. He noticed that the stim cocktail was wearing off too, leaving his knees aching again. “I need to get off my feet for a little while. Do you have that suite ready for me?”

  “Yeah, it’s all set.” She made a face. “Detective Hall, it may have escaped your attention, but the array is still on fire.”

  Cassidy looked around the side of the stairwell to see the smoke rising from the array. “Looks like it,” he replied. “Don’t worry. A crew will come up to put it out as soon as we’ve cleared the scene.”

  “They’re waiting for us to leave? How do they know we’re still here?”

  “One of the rotos out there is UDF. They’re watching us.”

  “They knew this was going to happen?”

  Cassidy shrugged. “Let’s go downstairs.” They descended the stairs to the top floor, crossing to the elevators. “Which floor am I on?”

  “Forty-two. You’re in room eighteen,” Shell said, her voice quivering. “A nice two bedroom job, but officially you haven’t relocated. Just don’t tell my boss I put you in there.”

  “What if someone else tries to book the same room?”

  “I blocked it out for maintenance.”

  “You’ve been especially helpful, Shell. I appreciate it.”

  “I won’t say I’m glad you showed up at the Agora. But it’s fortunate for you that I am who I am.”

  “I agree.” They boarded the elevator, taking it down to the forty-second floor, stepping out together. “I’ve got a couple of people who might stop by looking for me. A ginger woman and a guy with diamond teeth, or maybe his assistant, a woman with horned-rimmed glasses. If they ask for Brando, it means they’re looking for me. Can you do me a favor and send them up when they arrive?”