Avery Cates has a problem.

In a shrinking, sterile world, the Archangel is marching his army to Castelvecchio, and Cates has the information he needs to access the last remnants of the awesome technology of the despise System. He’s made his Devil’s Bargain with Lucinda Barowel, and now he knows the hitch: In order to get to the machinery of war left behind at Cochtopa, he’s going to need a boat—and guns. His ersatz army is quickly running out of ammunition in a world where the factories stopped working long ago.

When he learns that a local criminal has been hoarding guns and ammo as insurance against the coming apocalypse, Cates heads off to make a deal. And if he can’t make a deal, he’ll have to use every last resource he has left to secure that weaponry for himself—and hope his bargain with Barowel doesn’t come back to bite him in the ass.