I reached the bottom of the stairs and burst into the kitchen.

Madison was crouched behind the marble island, her face pale, her hands trembling as she held her phone.

“Natalie,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “There are soldiers outside.”

“I know,” I said, dropping to my knees beside her. “They think I killed Hayes.”

“But Hayes isn’t dead,” she said, showing me her screen. “I just saw an encrypted transfer authorization. It was signed with his biometric key two minutes ago.”

“He’s framing me to cover his own exit,” I said.

The heavy oak front door of the estate splintered open with a loud crash.

“Clear the ground floor!” a voice yelled from the foyer.

Heavy combat boots marched across the stone tiles.

“We need to get to the security office,” I whispered to Madison. “The mainframe has the hard copies of the logistics logs.”

“The crawlspace behind the pantry connects to the basement hall,” she said.

She pointed to a small wooden hatch near the floor.

I pried it open with my fingers, the wood splintering under my nails.

“Go,” I said, pushing her in first.