I saw his silhouette frantically clawing at the metal keypad near the iron gate.

I caught up to him under the dripping stone archway.

I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, slamming him against the cold brick wall.

He gasped for breath, water dripping from his graying hair into his eyes.

“Let go of me, Natalie,” he choked out, his hands weak against my forearms.

“The logistics scheme,” I said, my voice steady despite the adrenaline. “The forged manifests. You used Hayes to bypass the border checks.”

He shook his head, looking small and wet in the dim security light.

“You don’t understand the scale of this,” he said.

“I understand that you brought a lethal toxin into our home,” I said, tightening my grip on his wet collar. “I found the residue in my glass, Richard. You tried to poison me.”

Richard let out a dry, rattling laugh that turned into a hard cough.

He looked at me with something resembling pity.

“You?” he said, his voice shaking from the cold. “I didn’t put that in your glass to kill you, Natalie.”