His hand went back to his inner jacket pocket.

“Let me see it, Marcus,” Nathaniel said.

The man named Marcus opened the laptop and tapped the keyboard.

The screen glowed, casting a blue light over the three of us.

“We found the secondary ledger,” Marcus said.

“It was hidden under a disguised system directory.”

I held my breath.

The air in the lobby felt freezing cold.

Ruby pulled her coat closer around her shoulders.

“Show me,” Nathaniel said, stepping closer to the screen.

Marcus pointed to a row of red numbers on the display.

Arthur took another step backward, his eyes wide with panic.

His hand suddenly pulled something small and black from his pocket.

My heart stopped.

I instinctively pulled Ruby behind me, shielding her body with my own.

Arthur wasn’t holding a weapon, but a small, heavy key fob with a single red button.

“Don’t touch that laptop,” Arthur warned, his voice shaking violently.

“If you press another key, I will wipe the entire local drive.”

“I have a remote kill-switch connected to the Brindlewood mainframes.”