My fingers brushed against a small, cold metal object.

It was a black solid-state drive, no larger than a car key.

I pulled it out and slipped it into my pocket alongside Elias’s key card.

This was the drive containing the encrypted logs of his communication with our competitors.

But I still needed the final piece from Elias’s sub-level archives to lock the trap.

I left the townhouse, locking the door behind me, and caught the midnight train back to Manhattan.

The train car was empty and smelled of damp coats and cheap coffee.

I sat by the window, watching the dark shoreline of Connecticut blur past in the rain.

I reached New York just before three in the morning.

The King Enterprises tower was a dark monolith against the gray night sky.

The lobby was empty, the marble floor reflecting the dim security lights.

The night guard recognized me and nodded, assuming I was there to see Elias.

I took the private elevator down to the sub-level.

The air down there was colder, humming with the constant, low-frequency drone of server racks.