The late-night shadows of The Capital were long and deep, but Ace Kane barely registered the cooling air as he walked away from the wreckage of the evening's confrontations. The encounter with Tristan Blackwood had left a specific impression on him, though it wasn't one of fear or even particularly deep concern. To Ace, Tristan was a significant step up from the "low-tier trash" he had encountered earlier in the night. Unlike Gavin Vaughan or Jace Fontaine, who relied on volume and flamboyant displays of inherited wealth to mask their fundamental insecurity, Tristan possessed a brain that functioned with a modicum of strategic foresight. He was a man who understood the value of a tactical retreat and the weight of a superior force.
However, in the grand architecture of Ace’s current missi
