The plastic detonator hit the concrete floor with a dull thud. It didn't bounce. It just sat there among the fern leaves and broken glass its red light blinking like a dying heartbeat. Anthony let his arms drop to his sides. The tense predatory energy that had kept him standing for the ten minutes seemed to drain out of him leaving behind a hollow shell of a man who had just realized his plan had fallen apart. "You think you won, Elara " he whispered, his eyes staring blankly at the flashing light on his tablet. The sirens at the gates were getting louder a chorus of wailing metal cutting through the thunder. "You think bringing in the inspectors fixes everything.. The Silent Partner isn't a company. It's a cleaner." I took a step forward my boots crunching a pane of glass into white powder. My hand. The one still wearing the jagged cuff. Reached out to grab Anthonys collar to pull him out of the ruins before the federal teams flooded the perimeter. I stopped when I saw his lips mo

The lift did not go down slowly it went down fast.The moment I pulled the iron lever behind the sideboard in the dining room a loud noise was heard from under our feet. The old steel cable, which was already weak and broken from the heat coming from the floor broke with a scream.The floor opened up.The square part of the floor which was a lift for hiding liquor during the Prohibition era went down like a stone into the dark basement. I quickly put my arm around Elaras waist as the air rushed past us. The broken parts of our silver handcuffs made a lot of noise hitting the wood as we fell down into the basement.We hit the ground hard.The lift broke into pieces when it hit the concrete floor of the basement. I lost my breath. For a moment everything was dark and painful. My left arm, which was already hurt and numb hurt more as I rolled on the wet floor.Under the pain in my head I heard a new noise.The sound of rushing water.It was not a small leak it was a lot of water. The lib

The light that was shining in my face did not move. It just kept on shining, when Mikhail and the lead operative fell to the floor sending a huge wave of saltwater crashing across the darkroom. The second cleaner was still. His suppressed pistol was still pointed directly at me. He was completely calm and balanced like a robot.To him I was not a person. I was something that needed to be eliminated. I was a problem that needed to be solved."Drop the container " a voice said from behind the mask. The voice was synthesized so it did not sound like a person.My fingers tightened around the neck of the heavy glass amber bottle in my hand. This bottle had the highly concentrated hydroquinone developer in it. In my hand I was holding the sealed plastic tank that had the film in it. We did not have time to do a -stage chemical development. We did not have time to wait and see what would happen.If I dropped the tank the truth would be lost. If I got shot the truth would also be lost.My le

​As I sat in the back of the vintage town car I could smell the leather and tobacco. The rain outside added a scent to the air. The tinted windows blurred the view of Long Island, which was rapidly disappearing into a watery mess. The highway lamps flashed by in a blur as the driver sped towards JFK.​The space in the backseat was. Dark. It felt suffocatingly tense. Mikhail was slanted against the door his jaw clenched shut. He was using a linen handkerchief to stem the steady trickle of blood from his forehead. His breathing was shallow. His left arm was still immobilized from the electrical burns.His stormy eyes never left my hands. I was working on the film roll trying to develop the negatives.​"Forty minutes " Mikhail rasped, his voice cutting through the hum of the tires on the wet asphalt. "The inspectors will have realized Anthonys dead body doesn't match the broadcast trail. They'll flag every terminal by the time we hit the tarmac."​"Then we have to be done before we park

The cabin door of the Gulfstream closed behind me with a thud, like a bank vault slamming shut. The storm outside was suddenly. The silence was so complete that it made my ears ring. The air conditioning hummed to life filling the air with the smell of leather and ozone. It was a contrast to the scent of burning cedar and chemical sulfur that still clung to my skin.Mikhail collapsed into the cream leather armchair his massive frame sinking deep into the cushions. He let out a breath his head falling back against the headrest as his right hand squeezed his left shoulder. The skin beneath his torn sleeve was a mess of red blisters and gray ash from the darkroom short-circuit."We're moving " he muttered, his eyes tracking the tilt of the floor as the jet began to taxi through the blinding rain. ". The grid feels too clean, Elara. Nikolai is a businessman. He doesn't own the sky.""He doesn't have to " I said, my voice barely above a whisper.My attention wasn't on the windows or the mo