Chapter 9
The gas was not designed to kill, but to incapacitate. It was a suffocating, sickly-sweet cocktail that settled deep in the lungs, heavy and paralyzing.
I woke to a throbbing headache and the agonizing realization that I was utterly immobile. My arms were pulled taut behind me, secured to a cold, metal chair. The room was sparse and brutally bright, no longer the damp, echoing sewer chamber, but a sterile, modern interrogation cell. Adrian was opposite me, his head bowed, his face a mask of strain. Nadia was secured beside me, her eyes bloodshot, fighting the paralysis that stiffened her muscles.
Standing over Adrian, circling with the predatory confidence of a beast in its lair, was Konstantin. He was immaculate in his suit, his gray hair perfectly slicked back, a look of pro
