Chapter 1 - The Platinum Ghost
Clara walked out of the bodega with the carton of milk sweating in her hand.
The cold air of the Narrows suddenly felt much sharper against her skin.
She kept her head down and her pace steady.
Panic was a neon sign in a neighborhood like this, and she refused to turn it on.
She turned the corner onto her street and stopped dead in her tracks.
The block was entirely sealed off.
Six black SUVs were parked at precise angles, blocking both intersections and the alleyways.
Men in dark coats were standing on the sidewalks, their hands resting near their waistbands.
They were not police officers.
They moved with a quiet, synchronized lethal energy that only belonged to the Kaine Syndicate.
Clara’s heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs.
She thought about the pool of blood she had bleached from her cheap linoleum.
She thought about the heavy platinum watch sitting in her silverware drawer.
She realized with terrifying clarity that the man who had bled on her kitchen table was Victor Kaine.
She had charged the most dangerous man in the city a hundred dollars and told him not to shower for three days.
A man in a tailored suit stepped directly into her path.
He had a scar running through his left eyebrow and eyes as cold as absolute zero.
"Clara Hayes?" he asked.
It was not a request for identification.
It was a confirmation of a fact they had already established.
"Yes," Clara answered.
"My name is Silas," the man said.
"You need to come with us."
Clara tightened her grip on the carton of milk.
"I have rent to pay and patients who occasionally need me."
Silas did not smile, but a shadow of amusement crossed his face.
"Your landlord, Mr. Henderson, has been generously compensated for the rest of the year."
"And your patients will have to find another ghost to stitch them up."
"Mr. Kaine requires a consultation."
Clara looked at the army of men surrounding her crumbling apartment building.
She knew she did not have a choice.
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She dropped the milk carton into a nearby trash can.
"Let me get my medical bag," she said.
