MY MOTHER DRAGGED MY SIX-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER OUT OF HER HOSPITAL BED—THEN THE MONITOR WENT BLACK JUST AS I NOTICED SOMETHING BESIDE HER PILLOW.

"Hello, Victor," I said calmly, looking up at the security camera mounted in the corner of the elevator ceiling.

"I must admit, I'm impressed," Victor’s voice sneered through the speaker. "I thought you were hiding in a ditch somewhere with your dying child. But instead, you bring my pathetic sister right into my front parlor. Did you really think Isabella’s old security bypass wouldn't trigger an automated alert on my private monitor?"

"The game is over, Victor," Eleanor spoke up loudly, her voice echoing in the small metal shaft. "We know about Neurotoxin-7. We know you poisoned Chloe. And we know you cut Isabella's brakes two years ago!"

A sharp, cruel laugh erupted from the speaker. "Knowing something and proving it in a court of law are two very different things, sister. In five minutes, four armed tactical guards will enter this shaft. You will both be shot attempting to breach a secure corporate facility. The media will report that Marcus went on a violent rampage after his daughter passed away at the hospital. A tragic family downfall."

"You forgot one thing, Victor," I said, pulling the micro-decryption device from my pocket and pressing the red activation switch.

"What is that?" Victor snorted.

"Isabella didn't just give me her keycard," I smiled coldly at the camera. "She gave me her remote network override code. And while you were talking, my device just uploaded her master file to every news outlet, federal agency, and SEC database in North America."

The intercom went dead silent.

Suddenly, the red emergency lights in the elevator turned back to blue. The elevator doors slid open on the 42nd floor, revealing a wide, open-concept server room filled with glowing blue mainframe towers. Standing near the center of the room, holding a sleek silver hand-gun, was Dr. Julian Sterling.

"Drop the device, Marcus!" Sterling yelled, his hands shaking as he aimed the weapon directly at my chest. "Drop it now!"

Before I could react, Eleanor stepped boldly in front of me, placing her body between the gun and her son. "Shoot me then, Julian! Go ahead! Add another murder to your record! The FBI is already surrounding this building!"

Sterling panicked. His eyes darted nervously between Eleanor and the flashing server lights behind him. "Victor promised me twenty million dollars... he promised me I'd be chairman of pediatric medicine..."

"Victor lied to you," I said, stepping sideways and throwing a heavy steel fire extinguisher from the wall mount with blinding speed.

The extinguisher struck Sterling’s wrist with a sickening crack. He screamed in pain, dropping the gun onto the polished concrete floor. I lunged forward, tackling him to the ground, pinning his arms behind his back, and securing him with heavy plastic cable ties from a nearby maintenance rack.