The Shy Maid Stopped the Mafia Boss From Leaving That Night, and What He Found Beneath His Car Started a War for Phoenix

The night of the strike was moonless, the desert air cool and smelling of rain.

The Aethelgard research facility was a massive, concrete structure surrounded by triple-layered electric fencing and guarded by heavily armed mercenaries.

Evelyn stood in the back of a command van parked a mile away, her fingers flying over a laptop keyboard. Marcus stood beside her, his headset on as he coordinated the three strike teams led by Hector, Sophia, and Adrian.

"I’m in their firewall," Evelyn said, her eyes reflecting the green light of the screen. "I’ve bypassed the external motion sensors. Strike teams, you have a ninety-second window to cross the perimeter."

"Copy that, Doc," Adrian’s voice came through the radio, steady and calm. "Moving in."

On the security feed, three shadow teams crossed the fence, moving like ghosts through the desert brush.

Suddenly, the security screen flashed red.

"Wait!" Evelyn shouted. "Adrian, stop! The thermal cameras in the main lobby are showing an active gas dispersal system! They’ve already pressurized the corridors with TX-9!"

"We can't stop now, Evelyn," Adrian replied. "If we wait, they’ll purge the servers and destroy the files."

"I’m going in," Evelyn said, standing up and grabbing her medical bag.

"Whoa, Doc, absolutely not!" Marcus said, grabbing her arm. "That’s a hot zone!"

"I have the synthesized peptide, Marcus!" she said, her eyes fierce. "If Adrian’s team is exposed, they will die in six hours. I have to administer the antidote. And I’m the only one who knows how to download the encrypted files from the research lab."

Marcus looked at her, realizing there was no arguing with a woman who had spent three years preparing for this exact fight. He let out a sigh, reaching for his weapon.

"Then I’m going with you. Let’s go, Doctor."

They drove the command van straight through the facility’s secure gates, the heavy metal fence crashing down under the impact.

Evelyn threw on a specialized respirator mask, slinging her medical bag over her shoulder as they burst through the back service door of the main building.

The air inside the hallways was thick with a faint, sweet-smelling blue mist.

On the floor, several of Adrian’s men were already down, coughing violently as they clutched their chests.

Evelyn knelt beside the first man, pulling a syringe of the peptide from her bag and injecting it directly into his subclavian vein. Within seconds, his breathing eased, the color returning to his face.

"Marcus, help them!" she yelled over the sound of distant alarms. "I’m going to the server room!"

She ran down the sterile, white corridor, her heart hammering. She reached the heavy glass doors of the central laboratory.

Standing inside, holding a hard drive, was Dr. Thomas Vance.

Behind him, Victor Valenti was loading several canisters of the gas into a containment transport box.

"Evelyn!" Thomas gasped, his eyes wide with fear as she burst through the door.

"It’s over, Thomas," Evelyn said, removing her mask, knowing she had already taken the peptide herself. "I’ve already sent the original, unedited clinical trial data to every major news outlet in the country. The FDA is already drafting the warrants. Aethelgard is finished."

Thomas’s face went dark with rage. He reached into his lab coat, pulling out a small silver pistol.