Chapter One: The Fifty-Million-Euro Scar

There was no fatigue in them, and none of the excitement a young man should have felt after completing a historic transfer. But the true problem was not in his eyes. When Vega was twelve, he had caught his leg on a wire fence. A crescent-shaped scar remained on the outside of his left calf. Four years earlier, Lin had watched him play in a youth cup from behind the substitute bench. Vega had pulled down his sock during a celebration, and the television close-up had shown that scar clearly. The left leg before Lin now was clean, as if it had never been lived in. “Cleaner,” the bald doctor said. “Have you seen enough?” Lin closed his gloved fist around the bloody tissue. “Sorry.”