Chapter 1
The lights of the vast office situated just below the nexus atop the pyramidal structure of the building that housed Tyrion Global, a vast multi-conglomerate corporation that owned the first truly quantum-based computer in the world, flickered and dimmed before f laring into brilliant incandescence, shining in the darkness that enveloped the building. A strange hum could be heard in the streets below, and the hidden figures that watched the building with instruments trained on the windows of the office turned to gaze at their leader, clad in dark clothes and a hood concealing all but the malevolent smirk and luminous eyes of her face. She appeared satisfied with the way that the events of the night were transpiring. The group of burly individuals stared at her in anticipation but her smile vanished as she addressed them in compellingly sibilant tones.
"Excellent, just as I had thought. My plans are coming together and soon he will be mine, together with the secrets that your masters require for their elaborate schemes. Schemes that will give me the wealth and the power to achieve what I desire most..." Her voice softened to a loud rasping whisper, but despite this, they could all hear her clearly as she continued, "Go to your appointed posts and I shall communicate with you later in the night. Go now and await my instructions. All is proceeding as I have expected it to..."
None of them dared to openly look directly at her as they hurried away into the night towards their motorcycles parked along the concrete street, however, they couldn't help furtive sideways glances as she turned and beckoned to the driver seated in an armored metallic copper colored vehicle, parked in a shadow of the darkness of the street where they were gathered. The engine of the vehicle growled softly as it started and then glided closer towards where she stood and waited.
It came to a stop next to her and the door above the passenger’s seat opened upward and she climbed in, her lithe leather-clad form as dark and as indistinct as the body of a panther hunting its prey in the jungle. The street was dark but the sounds of the engines of the departing motorcycles ripped through the air as the door slid down into place. Then the vehicle whined softly as the driver guided it down the street towards the ramp that would take it onto the highway.
