"We're actually going to meet him on to roof of your building," Mizuno explained. "I've asked this individual to a.s.sist Nick with honing his ability."

At that revelation all three members looked at Mizuno. Melanie asked, "You know what his power is?"

"I do."

"What is it?" asked Mithra.

Mizuno stood up and started down the stairs toward the street. He only told them they'd see in a short while and headed in the direction of the State Bank of India building.

4:11 AM.

London, England Audrey hadn't slept much since the incident. She was powerless in life and in her dreams, and Jason needed her in both. Even when she did take the time to rest it did little to aid her health or fatigue. Her mother insisted she sleep and Audrey tried her hardest to oblige, but terror filled nights didn't soothe her whatsoever.

Jason was always the one awake because of his insomnia. He rarely slept more than a few hours each night and as such he would leave for runs or would try to busy himself with reading. It bothered her when they began to live together but over time she grew to accept it and completely ignore it. All she thought of was whether he was awake then or if he managed to find sleep.

Her sister Suzy quietly opened the door and crept in. She walked over to Audrey and took a seat next to her. Suzy gave her a quiet hug and handed her a cell phone. "His doctor called and wanted to speak with you. Don't worry about getting the phone back to me, just keep it with you in case she needs to get in touch with you again," she told her sleepily.

Audrey thanked her and answered the call.

"Miss Templar, this is Jamie Reynolds, one of your husband's doctors," she began, "I apologize for this unorthodox call, but I felt you'd like to know that we've discovered a change in your husband's health."

"Yes, has something happened?"

"Yes, though the news is quite uncanny. Let me preface this by reiterating how closely we've monitored your husband so far, but recently we've discovered that your husband's recovering at a rather alarming rate."

"What do you mean?"

"He's already recovered five percent of his original muscle ma.s.s, and his skin and nervous system are healing faster than anyone here in this hospital has ever heard of," the doctor explained.

Audrey smiled, "That's wonderful."

"It is, though we are all baffled how someone in critical condition and on life support could miraculously make this level of progress. That's the other reason I called; I would like to look into more of your husband's medical history in hope of finding something that could have triggered this."

"You think this could be a chemical reaction to something he took and something you gave him?"

"Possibly." The doctor continued, "What medications did he take before the attack?"

Audrey paused and thought a moment, "He doesn't take anything. In fact, I've only seen him take aspirin on occasion to relieve a headache."

"Does he have any unlisted medical conditions?"

"No...well he is an insomniac," she told the doctor.

"Do you know of any drugs or supplements he might have been taking?"

"He doesn't take any. He's always been against that sort of thing."

Doctor Reynolds continued down a very long list of questions, most of which Audrey either didn't know the answer to or she knew he never took or wasn't taking or never would take. Overall the information from the brief inquiry proved to be less than useful for Doctor Reynolds.

The doctor sighed, "Well thank you for your time. We'll be sure to keep you updated."

"Um, could I ask you when I'll be able to see my husband again?"

Doctor Reynolds said she wasn't sure. "It all depends on whether this change continues or not, as well as a few other factors."

"Oh."

The doctor paused for a moment before she added that there was one other revelation. "We tested what we could of his blood and found that he has trace amounts of radiation within him."

"And what does that mean?" she asked.

"We're not entirely sure at this moment, but there could be complications down the road."

"Like what?"

"Cancer, for example."

Audrey's joy sank. She trembled and asked how that would affect his recovery.

"Again, at the moment we aren't certain. I'll update you as soon as we know anything else," Doctor Reynolds a.s.sured her. The doctor apologized again for waking her and hung up. Audrey took a moment to process the news, both good and bad, but decided to wait to tell her family the news until morning. Jason would live and it was only a matter of time before he was recovered.

9:21 AM.

Mumbai, India The group arrived at the State Bank of India and slowly climbed the stairs to access the roof. The group utilized the emergency stairwell to get to the roof, though Mithra questioned how they were able to get access through the security as well as the alarms.

"I called another member of the group and asked him to disable the fire alarms in this stairwell as well as looping the security throughout the building until we're gone at ten."

"You planned this all out before we left?" Melanie asked.

He nodded. "I estimated how long it would take Mithra to pack, eat, and leave his home and arrive at the steps of the Asiatic Society of Bombay, then added the duration of time it would take us to arrive here and then another plotted time that would enable us to meet the individual on the roof, talk, and leave."

"So, there are others in the group be-besides us?" Nick stopped and repeated his question without stuttering.

"Glad you asked Nick." Mizuno confirmed it, "There are approximately thirty-eight members, but only twelve confirmed members." He glanced at Melanie, his eyes gleamed, and he added, "Not all of the prospective members have declined my offer, which is why I said 'approximately.'"

"So are there different groups in this whole project of yours?"

"No. We act in one accord and so long as I can help it there are other agents in various areas of the world who only wait for the call to act. I try to handle everything on my own and if and when I need you all, I'll call."

"So we're nothing but tools to you?" Mithra questioned.

Mizuno groaned, "Would you two shut up? We're here because Nick needs training, not because I want to hear you two gripe."

They were quiet the rest of the climb to the roof. Once they reached the door at the top of the stairwell, Mizuno opened it and an overpowering heat swept over them. It was bright and dusty and it took Nick a moment for his eyes to adjust. But after they did, he found one other soul on the opposite end of the building hunched over a sniper rifle and a duffel bag. He wore a black dress shirt and tan dress pants; a black duffel bag lay on the roof next to him. On his belt was a pearl mask with the silver outline of a ghost.

Mithra and Melanie stopped dead in their tracks. Nick asked, "What is it?"

Mithra couldn't speak, but Melanie, who trembled, whispered, "Him...Wh-Wh-Why is he h-here?"

Mizuno's expression was as serious as Nick had ever seen him. He answered, "He's here to do what I am paying him for," he paused, "Strom, now if you don't mind," and then quickly added, "The boy, by the way."

The man was still and didn't even breathe, but then a shot was fired. The man had pulled out a handgun off of his belt and fired one shot at Nick's forehead without so much as looking at Nick. The bullet vanished before it would have hit Nick and became nothing more than tendrils of black smoke that flew past him.

Nick felt his heart beat hard and fast.

Mizuno was the only one who moved; he walked without hesitation toward the man, retrieved a sum of money from his coat and handed it to him. "Half now," he muttered.

"Of course," the man agreed, in a German accent. He turned and faced the group. He was a large man with very short brown hair, gla.s.ses, and on his face, beneath his right cheek bone, was a small horizontal scar. He looked at Nick and asked Mizuno, "Is he any good?"

"No, that's why I hired you."

"True."

"Stop," Mithra finally spoke. He cautiously walked forward and asked Mizuno, "You asked him to come here?"

"I did."

"Why the h.e.l.l would you do that?"

"Calm down."

"No! You answer me! Why is that person here?"

"It's not your business."

"Answer me or I'm leaving the group."

"M-M-Me too," Melanie finally spoke up.

"He's only going to be working with Nick."

"What's wrong?" Nick asked.

"Don't you know who that man is?" Mithra whispered. Nick shook his head.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the man said as he hoisted his rifle into his arms, "I'm the German Hostile Operative Strom Trenor, the world's greatest a.s.sa.s.sin."

3:02 AM.

Baltimore, Maryland "You haven't heard anything yet have you?" Geoff Murdock asked Detective Felton.

"If I had I sure as h.e.l.l wouldn't be up at this hour," Felton retorted. He stopped himself and apologized to the sergeant. "It's just been"

"I get it, I'm sorry."

They stood hunched over Detective sage's desk and tried to sort through the mess the detective left behind. Sage was the expert on the investigation, and although Detective Felton a.s.sisted him in the process, Sage was leaps and bounds ahead of him in terms of understanding Cladis' methods and patterns. Detective Sage hadn't turned up since he escaped the hospital, despite the station's best efforts to find him.

"Who's at his home again?" Sergeant Murdock asked.

"Officer Hendricks. She volunteered."

"Anyone with her?"

Felton shook his head. "I offered Brown or Kato but she said she'd be fine."

"Nothing I take it?"

"Nothing at all, but she did tell me that from the looks of things Ryan hasn't been home in quite some time."

Murdock frowned and asked how she could tell.

"Hendricks asked around and no one's seen him in nearly a week," he reported. "A few of them didn't know he still lived there. So odds are Ryan won't return there."

Murdock scratched at the back of his head and asked whether Felton believed Ryan was hiding from them. "The man's injured, crippled actually, and you're suggesting he's hiding?"

Felton sighed and said he wasn't sure what to think. "Have you read the report of how he disappeared? It says he jumped out of a d.a.m.n hole in the hospital wall. The hole's the size of this room and moreover, how the h.e.l.l was he able to move enough to get to the window let alone leap out of it."

"And his room's a few flights up, I know," Murdock finished. "I read it too."

"It doesn't make sense."

"No it does not." Sergeant Murdock looked through the notes and litter strewn across the detective's desk. At a glance he couldn't tell what was a part of the investigation and what was garbage from week old takeout. "We need to get someone in here to sort through this and clean it up. It's still a health violation whether he's on a case or not." Murdock leafed through a few other notes before he asked Felton who he thought the next victim would be. "We didn't have an opportunity to pick his brain before he vanished. Do you think we've lost the trail?"

Detective Felton muttered that he wasn't even sure they were on the trail to begin with.

9:36 AM.

Mumbai, India "Calm down."

"No, I will not a.s.sociate myself with that monster!" Mithra yelled.

"Watch it," Strom told him with a glare.

"I've already told you, I hired Strom to teach Nick about his ability"

"You never said that until we arrived," Mithra spat. "And you didn't say it was this murderer who would teach him!"

"And what if I had?" Mizuno asked him. "You would have lashed out, just like you are now, and we wouldn't have gotten anywhere."

Nick remained where he was since Strom tried to shoot him in the head. It wasn't terror that planted him where he stood (as was the case for Melanie), Nick simply wasn't sure he wanted clarification as to why Mizuno planned on using a serial killer as an instructor or even what Nick's abilities were. Mithra was red in the face and though Mizuno seemed calm Nick could tell the j.a.panese man quickly lost his patience.