The sound of my fist connecting with Adrian Duca’s jaw cracked through his Tribeca penthouse like a gunshot. His head snapped sideways.

Before the words fully registered, the heavy reinforced penthouse windows shuddered under a concussive shockwave.

The ambient power cut instantly. The chandeliers went black, replaced by the ominous, pulsating red glow of emergency battery lights.

“Thermal signatures on the elevator shaft!” Marcus yelled, pulling a submachine gun from the wall armory. “Two tactical squads! Breaching charges on the service doors!”

BOOM.

The secondary fire exit doors on the terrace were blown inward by hydraulic breaching rams.

Glass shattered across the carpet as six mercenaries dressed in unmarked black Kevlar flooded the living room, assault rifles raised.

Adrian didn't flinch. In one fluid, terrifying movement, he grabbed my arm, pulled me behind the reinforced steel pillar of the fireplace, and fired four rapid, precision rounds from his Kimber .45.

Two mercenaries collapsed to the floorboards.

“Stay low, Cara!” Adrian commanded, his voice cold and steady amidst the deafening gunfire.

I crouched against the marble, my heart hammering like a trapped bird. But my training from three years of pre-pharmacy and advanced bio-chemistry kicked in. I spotted the tactical canister one of the downed mercenaries had dropped on the floor—a pressurized aerosol grenade marked with a yellow skull.

“Adrian! Don't let them pop that grenade!” I shouted, pointing through the smoke. “It’s Chloropicrin gas! In an enclosed room, it will paralyze your diaphragm in twenty seconds!”

Adrian’s eyes widened with sharp appreciation. He leaned around the pillar, fired a single disabling round into the lead attacker’s shoulder, and kicked the steel canister into the open fireplace flue, sealing the vent lever with a heavy iron poker.

“Move to the private elevator!” Adrian shouted to Marcus. “Deploy the suppressive fire!”

Marcus and three guards sprayed controlled bursts down the corridor, holding the breach while Adrian guided me into the reinforced private freight lift behind the library bookcase.