Berlin was a city of scars and steel, a landscape of brutalist concrete and glass needles that seemed to pierce the low, charcoal clouds of the German dawn. As the Aegis convoy bypassed the Brandenburg Gate, the silence inside the lead SUV was absolute. Alessandro sat draped in a thermal blanket, his jaw tight as he watched the Tiergarten blur past. Beside him, Seraphina held the encrypted drive like a talisman.
They weren't just entering a new city; they were entering the final arena.
"Deutsche Bank, Friedrichstraße," Seraphina directed, her voice a low, melodic command. "Elena, status on the perimeter?"
"Clean," the scarred operative replied from the front seat, her eyes never leaving the side mirrors. "Vincenzo’s digital footprint is still flatlined. The 'wipe' you initiated in Munic
