BOOK 1
Chapter One
The man checked his watch again while waiting for his coffee, irritation leaking through his restraint in small, unconscious movements. His foot tapping against the pavement, fingers drumming on his leg.
He glanced at his phone, lifted his eyes toward the café door, and exhaled through his nose as if the delay were a personal offense.
Matt Symbiac noticed him immediately. There was nothing remarkable about the man at first glance—mid-thirties, casual business attire. He looked to be there for his morning caffeine fix. But beneath that, something else: an uneven energy that revealed itself in the way he scanned the street too often, the way his grip tightened around his phone and loosened again.
It was not fear. Distraction. Anxiety. Nervous energy.
The barista finally handed over the cup. The man took it without acknowledgment and stepped outside, already absorbed in whatever lived on his screen. Matt rose a moment later and followed.
He didn’t hurry, but every move was deliberate. This wasn’t the timing he would have chosen, but preparation meant he didn’t need ideal conditions.
The sidewalk carried a steady flow of pedestrians, people adjusting instinctively around one another as the morning unfolded. Matt blended into that movement without effort, keeping just enough distance to remain unnoticed.
The man turned the corner onto a quieter street. A delivery truck had pulled into a work zone, orange cones narrowing the walkway and compressing foot traffic into a tighter channel. The man slowed slightly, attention fixed on his phone, unaware of Matt closing in from behind.
Matt’s movements were silent, controlled. The knife was already in his hand, grip steady and precise. He bumped into the man lightly and slid the blade between the ribs with surgical accuracy, angling it just enough to pierce the lung without drawing attention. The man’s breath collapsed into a wet, startled gasp—surprise overtaking pain as his knees buckled beneath him.
Matt caught him immediately, lowering the body with deliberate care, positioning himself as if tying his shoe. To anyone glancing over, it looked ordinary. He waited just long enough to be certain. Then he stood and walked away.
A block later, he stepped into a recessed doorway and paused, watching the street through the reflected glass. Nothing shifted. No attention lingered. When he rejoined the flow of pedestrians, the city absorbed him completely—just another man going about his routine.
By the time anyone realized something was wrong, Matt Symbiac was already gone.