Michael’s words hung in the sterile air of the hallway, heavy as wet lead. A sedative. In an estate guarded like a nuclear silo, someone had slipped a chemical compound into the bloodstream of a quiet, unassuming housemaid, and my security network had treated it like a ghost walking through walls.

“And now she’s going to die with her mouth shut,” Reyes sneer, his thumb resting over the cap of the medical vial. “Unless you hand over the access codes to your private offshore accounts to finance our relocation. Fifty million, Moretti. A small price to pay for a mother’s breath.”

“You miscalculated one thing, Reyes,” I said quietly.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“You’re standing in my house.”

Before Reyes could snap the cap off the vial, I dropped flat onto the slick stone floor. A deafening crack echoed through the tunnel as a bullet slammed into the brick wall a fraction of an inch above my head. I drew my Sig Sauer in one fluid motion and fired twice into the darkness.

Clatter.

The silver vial slipped from Reyes’s fingers, bouncing across the wet concrete before splashing into the drainage runoff. With a growl, the enforcer lunged forward out of the shadows, knife gleaming in his left hand, closing the distance between us in three long, predatory strides.

I didn't try to shoot. I drove my boot upward into his solar plexus, catching him dead center as he came off the ground. Reyes gasped, the wind knocked completely out of him, and slammed hard against the limestone wall. I followed up with a brutal right hook to his jaw that sent him crashing down into the shallow water, completely unconscious.

I scrambled frantically through the murky water where the vial had fallen, sweeping my hand along the sludge until my fingers brushed against cold metal. I pulled it out, holding it up to the flashlight beam. Intact.

“Daniel,” I barked into my comms. “Reyes is neutralized in Section Four tunnels. Send a cleanup crew down here and get this vial back to Michael immediately. Claire’s life depends on it.”

“On it, boss,” Daniel replied. “And Adrian? You’ve got a visitor at the front gate. Refuses to leave until she speaks with you face-to-face.”