1.
THE TWENTY-SIXTH OF OCTOBER, 2017, Houston, Texas, a red glow was on her office wall from the setting sun. A bank of clouds had moved to the south, which made visible the Williams Tower, an exclamation point on Houston’s western horizon. Belinda Larkin sat at a desk, her back to the window, the rims of her shoulders glowing from the sunlight as if they radiated heat. She bent forward and her face was shadowed, her wavy hair short, curling beneath the jawline, a frame for her sharp features.
She normally turned around to watch the sunset through her window. But today she ignored it, struggling to finish a draft agreement. Her mind wouldn’t stay focused, which annoyed her. Every few minutes, the text on her monitor disappeared, like a ship sailing into a fog. The words were sharp, and t
