LINE OF SIGHT, LINE OF FIRE

"Attention occupants," a calm, synthesized voice crackled through the intercom system. "All exterior doors and perimeter gates have been magnetically sealed under municipal emergency protocol Delta-Nine. Evacuation is suspended. Remain in your current sectors."

The heavy fire barriers at both ends of the hallway slammed downward with hydraulic thuds, sealing the corridor into an enclosed, forty-yard cage. Steel security shutters clattered down over the classroom doors, locking in place with sharp metallic clicks. The school had been converted into an automated trap.

Emilio stopped ten yards away, his head cocking slightly toward the ceiling speaker. A dark smile touched his lips. "Looks like my employers decided to clean up the cleanup crew. That protocol isn't local police. It's private security."

"Who hired you, Emilio?" Toby demanded, stepping in front of Maya again, his bruised ribs flaring with sharp pain. "Who has the authority to lock down a public district building?"

"People who own the banks your father audited," Emilio replied, taking a slow step forward, circling his blade with practiced ease. "And they don't leave survivors. If you give me that drive, I might let you take your chances with whatever squad they sent to sweep the building."

"You're trapped in here just like us," Vance pointed out, backing toward the biology lab door, testing the handle. It was locked from the inside.

"The difference," Emilio said quietly, "is that I know how to kill three people before the sweep team cuts through the exterior shutters."

He lunged without warning.

Toby braced himself, but Emilio didn't target him; he feinted left, sidestepping Toby’s tackle, and grabbed Vance by her raincoat collar, slamming her against the wall with enough force to crack the drywall. Vance choked, dropping the empty extinguisher. Emilio pinned her with his left forearm, pressing the cold steel of the blade against her throat.

"Drop the card, Maya," Emilio commanded, his voice devoid of emotion. "Or her carotid artery opens right here."

Maya’s hands shook violently. The resin-coated memory card felt weightless, yet it held the lives of everyone in the room. "Let her go! I’ll hand it to you!"

"On the floor. Slide it across."

Maya dropped to one knee, placing the card on the slick linoleum. Her eyes met Toby’s. In that instant, Toby caught the subtle shift in her posture—she was balancing on her toes, not kneeling in defeat.

"Toby, duck!" she screamed.

Instead of sliding the card, Maya swept her foot outward, kicking the heavy base of a discarded metal trash can straight into Emilio’s shins. The impact threw Emilio off balance, loosening his grip on Vance. Toby charged, slamming his full weight into Emilio’s chest, driving the assassin through the reinforced glass window of the biology lab.

The glass shattered into a thousand glittering shards. Both men tumbled through the jagged opening into the dark classroom, crashing onto a laboratory workbench loaded with glass beakers and Bunsen burners.

Maya dragged Vance to her feet. "Inside, hurry!"

They clambered through the broken frame into the dark lab just as Emilio threw Toby off him with brutal strength. Toby crashed onto the floor, gasping for air. Emilio rose among the shattered glass, his leather jacket sliced open at the shoulder, blood soaking through the seam.