**THE IT TECHNICIAN AND THE BOARDROOM TRAP**

"How much longer?" Julian whispered, pulling a heavy, brass paperweight off a nearby desk. It was a pathetic weapon against automatic firearms, but the billionaire gripped it like a battleaxe.

"Two minutes for the upload to complete," Marcus whispered back, looking at the screen above them.

The mercenaries were thirty feet away. The strobing lights were the only thing keeping them from taking a clean shot.

"We don't have two minutes," Julian said. He looked at Marcus, his expression hardening into something terrifyingly absolute. "Stay down. Keep the upload going. When the bar hits one hundred, you hit enter."

"What are you doing?" Marcus hissed, grabbing Julian's sleeve. "You'll die!"

"I built this company from nothing, Marcus," Julian said softly. "I'll be damned if I let David steal it in my own house."

Julian ripped his suit jacket off. He grabbed a massive rolling whiteboard from the adjacent cubicle and shoved it violently down the aisle toward the advancing mercenaries.

"Target left!" a guard yelled.

Bullets shredded the whiteboard. Using the distraction, Julian sprinted in the opposite direction, diving behind a massive, metallic coffee-station island. The guards pivoted, laying down suppressive fire, completely ignoring Marcus cowering beneath the desk.

"Flank him!" the lead guard shouted, moving toward the coffee station.

Julian was unarmed, sixty years old, and pinned. The guard rounded the corner, raising his weapon.

Marcus couldn't just watch. He looked at his tablet, which was still connected to the room's smart grid. He selected the coffee station's industrial espresso machine and overrode the pressure valves, maxing out the boiler temperature and sealing the release vents.

The guard stepped up to Julian, aiming the gun at his head. "End of the line, Mr. Sterling."

BOOM!

The espresso machine exploded like a fragmentation grenade. Scalding water, steam, and jagged metal shrapnel blasted outward. The guard screamed, dropping his weapon and clutching his scalded face, stumbling backward.

Julian didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, sweeping the guard's legs out from under him. The man hit the ground hard. Julian grabbed the dropped submachine gun, racked the bolt, and fired a burst into the ceiling.

"Drop your weapons!" Julian roared at the remaining two guards.

The guards froze, looking at the billionaire holding their comrade's gun. For a second, the standoff was absolute.

But one of the guards was too well-trained. He snapped his wrist up and fired a single shot.

Julian spun backward, crying out in pain as the bullet tore through his left shoulder. He collapsed, dropping the weapon.

"Julian!" Marcus screamed.

The guard walked forward, leveling his gun for the kill shot.

Marcus reached up, his trembling hand finding the keyboard.