They came on a Thursday, which Lucien would remember afterward as absurd — that the worst afternoon of the last three weeks had arrived on the same ordinary day his board meetings always ran late, as though danger had simply checked his calendar and picked the most convenient slot.

He was leaving the underground parking level alone, security detail delayed by a scheduling error Nathan would later apologize for at excessive length, when two men stepped out from between parked cars with the unhurried confidence of people who had done this before and expected no real resistance.

"Mr. Ashford," the nearer one said, pleasant in a way that made the...