“Look at the water,” Lucian said. “Just for a second. Before you pull that trigger. Look at it.”

The blast was silent, a white-hot lance of directed energy. Lucian’s body jerked, a blackened hole blooming on his chest. He didn’t scream. He just looked down at the wound, then back up at Kael. A thin line of blood—red, the same color as any man’s—trickled from his lips.

“To retire a faulty appliance,” Lucian said. He gestured to the water falling around him. “But I wasn’t running. I came here.”

Kael stepped out of the shadows, the Voight-Kampff rifle humming against his palm. The sound of his boots on the wet, broken marble echoed like a death knell.

His target was down there. Designation: NEX-6. Name: Lucian.