[i]As Ruby arrived a dark shape would pass beneath the pale moon, a brief, eerie squawk trilling overhead. Were Ruby to glance up, she'd be able to see a large black vulture circling high above her. Upon looking across the dojo with her thermal scanner, the thief might be surprised to find the red glowing shape of a figure staring right back at her, squatting less than twenty yards away in plain sight. Somehow the target had known she was coming. No insects chirped, no wind blew, no wood creaked. The venue had become shrouded in a heavy, unnatural silence.[/i]