Titus Richard is running on fumes. In the grimy, neon-soaked dystopia of Mercury City, his life is a desperate calculation between engine oil, mounting debt, and asthma medication for his kids. An honorable man haunted by his military past, Titus is now a freelance mechanic whose only fight is to keep his pregnant girlfriend and three children from starving.
But when an old army lieutenant, Frederick, reappears with an offer, Titus faces an impossible choice: vanish for six months for enough money to fix his family’s life, or stay and watch it all crumble.
The price of silence is steep.
Taking the deal, Titus is thrust into the depths of a clandestine operation known only as Black Sun. Blindfolded, scanned, and injected with trackers, he joins a shadowy crew of ex-soldiers, cops, and veterans—all running from their own burdens.
Titus signed up for a six-month security gig; what he got was an initiation into a high-tech, claustrophobic nightmare where the only company is the constant threat of something "dragging, wet and slow" lurking just beyond the light. Now, Titus must survive a secret world that promises to pay his debts in full, but may cost him his sanity, his humanity, and any chance of returning to the people he sacrificed everything to save.