Paladin Blake & The Secret City

by Eric Nylund

  But this ring was different. The symbol in the eagle’s talons wasn’t a star; it was a strange, canted cross.

  Maybe Paladin had seen it before, after all.

  He retrieved the calling card Karina Von Gilder had given him in her casino, the one with the embossed with a spider-web, its strands kinked halfway from the center. It was a dead ringer for the cross in the ring.

  Paladin didn’t know what it meant, but staring at it made his stomach turn and the hackles on the back of his neck stand.

  This had started as a personal quest to save Flora…but it was turning into much more. He had to put an end to the secret pirate city-and Karina Von Gilder-for good.

  He removed the chair blocking the door, then picked up the receiver. “Eliot you still there? Good.

  I want as many men and planes as you can spare. We’re all flying south a special mission.

  Volunteers only-nobody married-and extra hazard pay.

  “Wake up Tennyson, too, and tell him to get ready for a war.”