CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY – THE GREAT HEIST

She moved towards the lead vehicle, an armored Suburban whose flanks had been reinforced with reactive plating and whose chassis concealed enough firepower to sustain a small war. Marco fell in beside her, his expression taut with something that might have been apprehension in a lesser man. Joan allowed her hand to fall briefly on his shoulder as their eyes met in the gloom, a silent exchange of understanding passing between them. They had been forged in the fires of mutual depravity, had seen horrors that would corrode the sanity of ordinary souls. What bound them now went beyond simple fealty or camaraderie. It was something deeper, more primal – the recognizance of kindred spirits caught in the teeth of a waking nightmare. "No mistakes," she intoned, her voice pitched to be heard over the throbbing engines. "Not tonight. We do this clean and by the numbers." Marco managed a grim nod, his jaw clenching as he slapped the magazine well of his rifle in a ritualized checking of the i