Kingmaker

I build levers to move objects that appear to be immovable. With no heart and immunity to cancer, Alexei Drovosek represents the next evolution of human. As an orphan in post-Soviet Russia, Alexei was raised by the state and trained to be its most effective killer. But eventually the Russian Federal Security Service's best assassin did the most dangerous thing of all: he went rogue and disappeared. In the bleak, high-tech near future, Alexei has resurfaced in a secret compound on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Nearby is the soaring headquarters of Pearl Knight Industries, an international mega-corporation whose power is beyond the reach of the law. Alexei's closest companions are his personal AI, Emma, and a group of orphans he has spent years training. But Alexei isn't fostering these children as a favor to the state; he's raising them with the hope that they will destroy it. As he moves each child into play in the world's highest-stakes game of chess, Alexei fights for what matters most: democracy and freedom.