BRIAN

I sat back against the leather seat, staring out the tinted bulletproof window. The digital dashboard clock shifted to 7:14 AM.

"Nikolai’s team has established the secondary perimeter at the exchange, sir," Marcus reported from the front passenger seat. His eyes never left the screen of his secure tablet. "The southern captains arrived twenty minutes ago. They’re refusing to sit in the main conference room. They’re congregating in the secure vault lobby downstairs, and they brought their own security detail."

"Let them bring whoever they want," I growled, my voice gravelly and thick from the cold air of the harbor road. "They can line the entire lobby with guards...