Reuben's ribs ached with a persistent, grinding reminder of the attack. Deeper, the treachery on Markus's part, was a chill stone in his own chest. In the antiseptic stillness of his own quarters in Aegis Haven, he had replayed it all a hundred times: the cryptic warning, the fire, the murdered driver, Anna's face covered in blood. It was a luxury he could no longer indulge. Each new aid's look, each spurious report, was passed through the prism of suspicion. The Shadow War had poisoned the well.
But to abandon was to give victory to Crane. To permit the fear to spread and paralyze the whole HON network. Reuben realized, with a faith that was beyond the System's reason, that the only antidote for fear was solid, irrefutable achievement. If Crane's solution was violent, flashy destruction,
