The NAGA Development Arresting Planet: The Ashkenaz Containment.
The alley floor didn't catch Lazar; it crumpled his suspension. He hit the heavy, rotting canvas of a sanitation drone’s disposal bin, the impact blowing the remaining oxygen from his lungs in a sharp, wet gasp. The stink stank shank stench of recycled grease and sour ozone filled his throat as he rolled over the rim, tumbling hard onto the wet cobblestones of the lower transit lane. He didn't check for broken ribs. Pain was a secondary diagnostic metric. Above him, the rooftop he had just vacated cut a jagged silhouette against the neon-pulsing smog. Three distinct beams of concentrated ultraviolet light swept the brickwork, scanning the rain for thermal signatures. The Liquidators were already analyzing the trajectory of his descent. Lazar pulled the stolen solid-state drive from his jacket. The copper casing was cooling now, leaving a raw, rectangular blister across his left palm. He didn't drop it. That blister was the only evidence that Sector 4’s math was a lie. ...