Chapter One: The Fifty-Million-Euro Scar

The last word made Lin pause. A professional footballer's body was never perfect. Lin had entered a Lyon academy at fourteen and torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee at seventeen. In those years, he had seen the bodies of enough prodigies: twisted toes, calcified ankles, one hip sitting higher than the other. Football always left evidence. The greater the player, the larger the debt written into his flesh. The door opened. Four people in white coats surrounded Vega as he came out. The player wore only examination shorts, with a towel over his shoulders and red circles where electrodes had been removed. He looked a little leaner than on television.