The alarm was still howling when the door on the opposite side of the office burst open.
"Lord Corvin!"
A man stumbled in, lean, sharp featured, with insect-like compound eyes that reflected the emergency lights in fractured patterns. Behind him, two more subordinates, one carrying a canister, the other already raising his hands to summon.
Corvin, still standing over his desk despite the hole in his chest, turned his pale gray eyes toward the newcomer. A thin smile stretched across his lips.
"You're late."
"What happened? The sensors?"
"Happened?" Corvin laughed, a wet, rattling sound. Blood bubbled at the corner of his mouth, but he didn't fall. "What happened is that the Ghost walked into my home and tried to kill me."
Julian didn't move. His hand was still coated in Corvin's blood. "Tried?"
