Chapter 1 No.1

The rain in Detroit didn't wash things clean; it just made the grime slicker.

Kaela Moon stood under the rusted awning of a pawn shop on 8 Mile, water dripping from the frayed hem of her flannel shirt. She shivered, not from the cold, but from the calculated effort to look pathetic. She shifted her weight, letting her shoulders slump, her posture shrinking inside the oversized, stained work coat she'd bought at a Goodwill an hour ago.

A Lincoln Navigator, stretched and blacked out, rolled through the intersection. It looked like a shark swimming in a sewer. It slowed, tires crushing a discarded soda can, and pulled up to the curb.

The window rolled down three inches.

Miller, the Moon family's driver for the past twenty years, looked out. His eyes scanned her boots-caked in mud-up to her wet, stringy hair. He didn't hide his disgust. He wrinkled his nose as if he could smell the poverty on her through the rain.

He didn't unlock the door. He honked. A short, sharp blast.

Get in, trash.

Kaela gripped the strap of her canvas bag. She ran toward the car, splashing through a puddle she could have easily stepped over. She fumbled with the handle, her fingers slipping on the wet metal, playing the part of the clumsy, overwhelmed country girl.

The lock clicked. She pulled the heavy door open and scrambled inside.

The moment the door thundered shut, Miller hit a button. The privacy partition slid up with a mechanical whir. Then came the hiss of an aerosol can. He was spraying air freshener in the front seat.

Kaela sat back against the leather. It was soft, smelling of conditioned hide and old money. She pushed her wet bangs out of her eyes. In the reflection of the darkened window, the fear vanished from her face. Her eyes, moments ago wide and watery, went dead flat.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a burner phone. It looked like a cheap, outdated relic, but the internals were gutted and rebuilt with military-grade hardware. Her thumbs flew over the keypad, entering a command line blindly.

Terminal active.

She leaned forward, pressing her ear slightly toward the partition. Miller was on the phone. The Bluetooth connection was sloppy; the audio bled through the gap.

"...picked up the cargo," Miller said. "Yeah. 8 Mile. She looks like a drowned rat."

A pause.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Moon. We're taking the scenic route. Under the I-94 overpass. The boys are waiting. Just a scare. Make sure she knows her place before she gets on that bird."

Kaela sat back. A small, cold smile touched her lips.

She reached up to her messy bun. Her fingers found the silver hairpin holding the chaos together. It was titanium alloy with a sterling silver coating, tapered to a needle point, disguised as a cheap trinket. She pulled it out. Her dark hair tumbled down her back. She twirled the pin between her knuckles.

The car slowed. The rhythm of the tires changed from the hum of asphalt to the crunch of gravel. The streetlights vanished, replaced by the oppressive shadows of concrete pillars.

Miller spun the wheel. The Lincoln lurched, swinging into the darkness beneath a decommissioned overpass. He slammed the brakes.

The engine died.

Kaela heard the click of Miller's seatbelt, the pop of the driver's door, and the slam. Then, the distinct thud-thud of the child locks engaging on the rear doors.

She was trapped.

She waited three seconds, then started screaming.

"Hello? Miller? What's happening?" She threw herself against the window, slapping the glass with her palms. "Open the door!"

Outside, Miller lit a cigarette. The cherry glowed in the dark. He laughed.

Headlights flared to life. Three modified pickup trucks boxed the limo in. Six men stepped out of the shadows. They wore ski masks and carried baseball bats wrapped in chains. They moved with the loose, confident swagger of men who knew no one was coming to help.

"Don't kill her," Miller shouted over the rain. "Just break her spirit. Mrs. Moon wants her shaking when she boards the plane."

The leader of the group, a man the size of a vending machine, stepped up to the rear passenger window. He swung a tire iron.

CRACK.

The reinforced glass spiderwebbed. The sound was deafening in the enclosed space.

Kaela stopped screaming.

She sat back down in the center of the bench seat. She crossed her legs. She smoothed the wet flannel over her knees. With calm, precise movements, she gathered her hair at the nape of her neck and twisted it, sliding the silver pin back in to hold it tight.

The leader swung again.

SMASH.

The safety glass gave way, raining diamonds onto the leather seats.

A hand, thick and calloused, reached through the jagged hole, grabbing for her hair.

"Come here, little-"

Kaela moved.

She didn't pull away. She lunged forward. Her hand shot out, wrapping around the man's wrist. Her grip was iron. She used his own momentum, twisting his arm against the broken window frame, leveraging the joint backward.

SNAP.

The sound of the radius bone snapping was louder than the rain.

The man screamed-a high, wet sound.

Kaela didn't let go. She pulled him harder into the jagged glass, then released him and kicked the door. The latch gave way under the force of her boot. The door swung open, smashing into the man's face and sending him flying backward into a puddle.

Kaela stepped out of the car.

Her heavy work boots crunched on the broken glass. She stood to her full height, the oversized coat billowing in the wind.

Miller dropped his cigarette. His mouth hung open. "What the..."

The other five men hesitated, then rushed her.

The first one swung a chain. Kaela sidestepped, the metal whistling past her ear. She moved inside his guard, fluid like water. The silver hairpin was in her hand. She drove it into the soft bundle of nerves between his neck and shoulder.

He dropped like a puppet with cut strings.

She spun, her elbow connecting with the nose of the third attacker. Cartilage crunched. Blood sprayed.

It wasn't a fight. It was a dismantling.

She moved with an efficiency that was terrifying to watch. No wasted energy. Every strike broke a joint or hit a pressure point. Within thirty seconds, five men were on the ground, groaning in the mud.

Kaela stepped over a twitching body. She walked toward Miller.

Thunder cracked overhead, illuminating her face. There was no fear. No anger. Just a clinical, bored detachment. She twirled the silver pin, wiping a speck of blood off the tip with her thumb.

Miller scrambled backward, his heels slipping in the mud, until his back hit the grill of the Lincoln.

"Please," he whimpered.

Kaela stopped a foot away from him. She tilted her head.

"Open the trunk, Miller," she said. Her voice was low, smooth, and utterly devoid of mercy. "I have luggage."