Begin with Chapter 00 from Book 1. You can also read the first two chapters of The First Night in Zone 3 or the opening of Elena Vasquez’s first case.
NOVEL · BOOK 1
CASE 01: ALICE
Subject Missing
A door opens. Alice does not know the room or the children waiting with her in the dark. Footsteps draw closer outside until someone stops directly in front of the door. A boy whispers that she must not draw attention. Before he finishes speaking, Alice lifts her head and looks toward the door.
Alice reads in her history book that the zones brought safety after the war and the Cataclysm. She asks Caleb why people gave up their freedom for it. “Because they were afraid,” he says. Alice rolls the pencil between her fingers and looks at him. “That isn’t an answer.”
Leni’s forehead burns against Aaron’s neck when the family reaches Zone 3. Beyond the barrier lies the treatment his daughter needs. Aaron is expected to decide for everyone, and he barely understands what their consent will cost them. During Leni’s examination, Tess notices a mistake Aaron almost misses. Will he listen to her?
Aaron is exhausted. Leni has a fever, and he does not know how much farther he can carry her through the Outlands. The engines of a cartel patrol come so close that he lies down with the children in a mud hollow and hopes Leni will not cough. Later, they wash in the river because they have nothing else. Zone 3 lies ahead. Aaron has been told Leni can get medicine there. His children could eat and sleep behind a door they can lock from the inside. Aaron wants to believe it. Tess asks what the zone expects in return. Aaron avoids the question. How long will she accept that answer?
Elena finds a man in the scrapyard who has been dead between the trucks for hours. His authorization was used again after his death. The last clearance leads Elena to Block 18. A resident there has kept a stranger’s card for her. ELENA VASQUEZ is written on the back. The man knew Elena would pass through this building. How did he know her route?
Elena kneels beside the dead man in the wet snow. The service ID at his collar is still lit. Someone used his authorization several times after his death. His body was still lying between the trucks. The last clearance leads Elena to Block 18, where residents fear she has come to take their homes. A woman is waiting with a stranger’s card. ELENA VASQUEZ is written on the back. The stranger knew Elena would pass through this building. How did he know her route?
