CHAPTER 86

I never imagined that I'd be standing in a battle of wills in the middle of nowhere on some bleak, wind-scoured plateau. And yet here I am—standing in front of a man whose presence shocks me to the very core of my being. My heart pounds so loudly I can barely hear myself think over the howling wind and crunch of gravel beneath my feet. It's as if the very foundations of sanity have been turned upside down.

It started as a tip. I had been tracking the exploits of a formidable adversary for weeks, following a trail of gossip and innuendo that had led me away from the urban chaos I was used to. Now, amidst the bleak surroundings of an out-of-the-way mountain pass, I stood toe-to-toe with him—someone I had thought was mere apparition of my own personal history. But the moment I saw him, all of my carefully constructed conclusions came tumbling down.