Chapter 216

James Evans's heart was pounding the second he heard the lab data had been stolen. He never thought they'd catch on this quickly. Crouching in front of the safe, he punched in the code with trembling hands. With a beep, the door clicked open, and he yanked out a fat stack of files. He let out a long breath—thank God, it was all still here. He had to move it now. Just as he started to rise, something cold and hard touched the back of his head. He froze. The file shook in his hand. Then, the study door creaked open. "Babe? What's going on?" His wife stepped in, only to have a black pistol pointed right at her temple. "Still wanna talk brave?" the gunman said flatly. She quickly shook her head, face draining of color. "No! No, please—we can talk, just don't shoot." James raised both hands, voice shaking. "You want the files, right? Take them. Take everything. Just don't kill us, please!" The weapon disappeared, and someone snatched the files from his grasp. Eyes shut tight, James pleaded,