He’d given the new master key to Julian before dinner even made it to the dining table.

My watch read one minute past five in the morning.

The silent alert in my pocket hadn’t buzzed yet, but the second hand kept sweeping steadily around the small black dial.

I stood my leather command briefcase upright on the workbench next to the cardboard box.

Its brass latches were locked tight with the four-digit clearance code David had set three months before his last deployment.

A dull double buzz throbbed against my hip.