The hospital room smelled of harsh floor disinfectant, cold tea, and the distinct, metallic tang of winter air clinging to the heavy wool coat Elena Mercer hadn't taken off since noon.

The service staircase at the rear of the boiler room was slick with ice and decades of industrial grease.

Miller led the way, his revolver raised, taking each iron step with slow, deliberate precision. Elena followed inches behind, holding a heavy steel pipe she had pulled from an abandoned boiler line.

They reached the second-floor landing without detection. The air grew warmer here, smelling of kerosene heaters and dry dust.

A long, dimly lit corridor stretched ahead, lined with shattered glass office doors. At the end of the hall stood a massive, reinforced red steel door with a heavy brass wheel lock—the entrance to the old processing kiln.

Standing outside the red door was a second man, wearing a blue canvas jumpsuit and carrying a heavy duffel bag. He was furiously typing numbers into an electronic keypad mounted beside the door frame.

"Dammit, Vance!" the man shouted quietly into his radio. "The secondary lock is jammed! The cold reset the circuit!"

"Override it from the breaker panel behind you!" a sharp, cultured voice snapped through his radio speaker. "We have twenty minutes before the state police track the burner phone location! Get those kids down to the loading bay now!"

Miller didn't hesitate.

He stepped out from the darkness of the stairwell, raising his revolver. "Police! Hands on your head! Drop the bag!"

The man in the blue jumpsuit spun around, his hand plunging into his jacket pocket.

BANG.

The deafening report of Miller’s .38 echoed like a cannon shot through the narrow corridor.

The man gasped, dropping his heavy duffel bag as he stumbled backward against the red door, sliding down the steel frame to the floor, clutching his shoulder.

"Elena, get the keycard from his belt!" Miller shouted, rushing forward to secure the suspect.

Elena lunged forward, grabbing the heavy black keycard attached to the man's leather holster. She jammed it into the electronic reader beside the red door.

The red light flashed green.