The first thing Marcus saw when the transport screamed into Sector 9 was the smoke, and the second thing was the fire.
It was everywhere. Not just the garden—the whole sub-level was burning. The Reclamation Front's strike team had used military-grade incendiaries, the kind that clung to stone and metal and kept burning even when there was nothing left to consume. The Blindspot corridors were filled with choking black smoke and the roar of flames that sounded almost like screaming. The community firefighters were already there, their portable pumps struggling against a blaze that had been designed to be unstoppable.
But the garden was still there. Wounded. Burning. But not gone.
Marcus ran through the smoke with Elena at his side and Mira's security team fanning out behind them. The entr
