ena'

with silent ten

ated cryogenic chamber, watching my br

totype, the one not even my investors had se

Dr. Chen, her gloved fingers dancing across the

b table, arms crossed. "You

ity feed from the townhouse, Damien's furious fac

ried beneath Vaughn Innovations' flagship lab, accessible only thr

o weeks. Twenty-two weeks of hiding the most precious creation of

ed. "Blackwood just wired five millio

gineer. The only outsider who

in a sharp breat

ut he'll regret it." My fingers flew across the holographic keyboa

ded instantly. "Ret

to the scanner an

Serena. Protocol Wintermute

ley's apartment. The good doctor stood frozen in his kitchen, staring at a bla

ed. "You bug

, zooming in on the envelope's wax sea

tumbled out, along with a note we couldn't read. He plugged the d

CCESS DETECTED"

"He's triggering

itor. The flash drive wasn't a bribe. It was a Trojan horse, one that

nd there's Eleanor's

they're targeting Langle

motion sensors tripped. Someon

lockdown button. "Chen

the vault as steel shutters descended over lab equipment. Ele

vator p

ng the digital display count do

rs slid

veled, his Oxford shirt splattered with what looked like c

r her weapon. "Pr

Stanford lab accident, the one no public photos had ever captured. "Eleano

, the slight tremble in his hands. Rea

what happened to Langley?" He pulled a crumpled note from h

proposal, Mrs. Vaughn. The pat

t my lungs

sed. "The

y stomach, then snapped ba

. Eleanor's game was clear, she wanted me r

something dangerous

d calcu

's main console. "A

ned. "It's too so

red the authorization codes. "N

Their main server room. Their R&D floor. Even Eleanor's private office, all v

sharply. "You h

ew window, the Swiss bank tra

ng five million to Langley...and receiving twenty m

id Langley to betray us, but

across the keyboard, tracing the shell company's ownership. "

ds were r

ompany was registere

oise. "Damien's mistre

m the Blackwood Estate, Natalia slipping into Damien's study while he was away, planting some

le piece click

she was manipu

ht she was pl

Dami

a he was standing

t over my stomach. "Prepare t

linked.

Natalia had planted in Damien's office, "someone

made my heart skip a beat. It was Eleanor Blackwood's la

was