Darkness pressed against Alicia from every side, and her heartbeat thundered so loudly in her ears that she could barely hear the rain battering the corrugated roof above. The warehouse smelled of rust and damp concrete, of old machinery left to rot, and every drop of rain sounded like a footstep circling somewhere just out of sight.
"Who's there?" Her voice cracked despite her effort to steady it.
No answer came. Then, without warning, the lights flickered on, though not all of them, only enough to illuminate a single chair at the center of the warehouse floor. An elderly man sat upon it in an immaculate charcoal suit, a silver-handled cane resting across his lap, his posture calm and unhurried, as though he had been waiting there for hours and expected to wait a good deal longer if nec
