"Drop the crowbar, kid."A deep, gravelly voice echoed from the dark corner of the garage. I spun around, gripping the rusty iron bar with both hands. The shadows near the back wall shifted, and a massive man stepped into the yellow pool of light. He wore grease-stained canvas overalls and heavy steel-toed boots. His gray hair was cut short, his jaw covered in thick stubble, and a jagged white scar ran from his left temple down to his collarbone."Who are you?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly before I tightened my grip. "How did you get in here?"The man did not reach for a weapon. He looked at the crowbar in my hands, then down at the open lockbox on the table."I have had the key to that back gate for twenty-four years," he said, walking over to the wooden bench. He tossed a heavy iron wrench onto the table with a loud clatter. "Name is Marcus Cole. I was your father's chief mechanic before Richard Sterling put a bullet in his car engine and called it an accident."My chest tig

"Pull the power switch."Marcus did not look up from the workbench. He kept scraping grease off a steel cog with the tip of his knife."The line is hot, Leo. If you send that packet right now, Julian will know you tapped into the downtown exchange.""Let him know.""He will send real killers next time. Not those rent-a-cops in jackets.""The morning trading bell rings in thirty minutes, Marcus. If the city fund signs that contract, Richard gets sixty million dollars in public money. Once that cash clears, he can bribe every judge in the district. We will never get inside a courtroom."Marcus paused. He wiped the blade on his canvas pants and turned his head toward the glowing monitor. "How much code are you dumping?""Just the test loop," I said, my fingers tapping the plastic keys. "Ten thousand automated trades from last month. Every single one shows a four percent margin error that Julian covered up with fake reserve numbers.""Will the market notice?""The trading bots will notic

"Do not twitch."The steel barrel pressed harder against the base of my skull. I kept my hands flat on the cold metal frame of the splitter box. My heart pounded hard against my ribs, but I forced my voice to stay flat and quiet beneath the loud murmur of the crowd on the other side of the heavy black curtain."Richard pays you well, Captain.""He pays me enough to clean up garbage," the man rasped behind me. It was Richard's private security chief, his breath smelling of stale tobacco. "Take your hands off that wire. Real slow."On the stage above our heads, the audio speakers crackled. Julian’s voice boomed through the massive hall."Distinguished guests, members of the city council, and esteemed partners," Julian announced, his tone loud and practiced. "Today, Sterling Global does not just present software. We present the financial engine of the next century."Polite applause roared from the four hundred seated investors. "Stand up, boy," the guard ordered, grabbing my shoulder w

"Hold on to something!"Evelyn spun the steering wheel hard to the right. The sedan jumped the concrete curb, tires shrieking as we smashed through a rusted chain-link fence into the lower industrial freight yard. My head slammed against the window glass. The pain in my cracked ribs flared like a hot iron rod being twisted into my side. I cried out, doubling over, my hands clutching my soaked shirt as the dark blood seeped through my fingers."Leo, stay down!" Marcus yelled from the front seat, racking the bolt of his heavy rifle. "Keep your head below the headrest!"Behind us, two of the black police cruisers smashed through the same broken fence. Gunfire erupted immediately. Heavy bullets ripped through the rear windshield of our car, spraying sharp glass pebbles across my back and hair."They are not trying to pull us over!" Evelyn shouted, fighting the shaking wheel as the sedan fishtailed through deep muddy ruts between towering stacks of rusted shipping containers. "They are fi

"You cannot walk in there looking like a ghost, Leo."Evelyn stood in front of the full-length mirror in her hallway, adjusting the collar of a clean black suit jacket over my shoulders. Her fingers brushed against the thick bandages taped tightly around my ribs. A sharp, hot pain spiked through my torso, making me flinch and catch my breath with a low groan."I do not need to look pretty," I muttered, gritting my teeth until the room stopped spinning. "I just need to stand on my own two feet for twenty minutes.""Twenty minutes is enough time for Richard to buy three judges," Marcus said from the kitchen. He walked into the hallway carrying a dark leather document briefcase. His broad hands were still wrapped in white medical gauze from the fire, but his grip on the handle was like iron."The magistrate called in two extra bailiffs," Evelyn said, checking her watch. "It is eight-forty. If we are not inside Courtroom 4B before the gavel drops at nine, the judge can dismiss our petit