The heavy rear metal door of Leto slammed shut, locking behind Nora with a flat, final metallic click. The alleyway was cold, slick with a fine drizzle that turned the greasy pavement into a mirror for the flickering amber sodium lights above.

By 11:45 AM, the abandoned ironworks warehouse on Fourth Street looked like a ghost town from the outside, but inside, it was a high-tech nerve center. Massive server racks hummed beneath flickering fluorescent lights, connected to portable satellite uplinks that routed directly into Port Mercer’s automated shipping network.

Tariq and Sami Alied stood over a technician who was frantically typing commands into a master console, while six armed enforcers guarded the perimeter.

“Faster,” Tariq barked in Arabic, pacing back and forth across the concrete floor. “Once the firewall override is complete, Viscanti’s entire logistics network will be ours before the port authority even realizes the encryption keys have changed.”

“Almost there, Mr. Alied,” the technician sweated, hitting the enter key.

Suddenly, the massive corrugated metal roll-up door at the front of the warehouse shrieked as it was rammed from the outside.

A heavy armored SUV smashed through the steel barrier, tires screaming against the concrete, sending sparks flying in a brilliant, blinding shower.

Before the Alieds’ guards could raise their rifles, the side doors of the SUV flew open. Roman Vale stepped out first, his tactical rifle raised, firing with chilling, methodical precision. Two enforcers dropped instantly.

From the passenger side, Nora tumbled out, rolling smoothly across the concrete and taking cover behind a stack of industrial cable spools, her Glock—handed to her by Marcus twenty minutes prior—held in a steady, two-handed grip.

“Flank the server racks!” Roman shouted over the deafening roar of gunfire.

Chaos erupted inside the warehouse. Muzzle flashes strobed through the cavernous space, echoing like thunder off the corrugated walls. Glass shattered from the overhead office windows as Marcus and Enzo laid down suppression fire, pinning the remaining Alied guards behind heavy steel crates.