The glass shattered with a sharp, violent crack against the marble floor, spraying amber liquid and glittering shards across the expensive Persian rug.
In the dim light of the high-rise office, he stood with his back to the room, his breathing heavy and ragged as he stared out at the rain-slicked city skyline. The tailored fabric of his designer suit felt suffocatingly tight against his broad shoulders.
On the massive mahogany desk behind him, a wall of monitors flickered with a depressing, rhythmic hiss, displaying nothing but gray static from the Illinois valley facility.
Twenty men. Twenty highly trained, heavily armed professionals equipped with top-tier security sensors and automated defenses.
All gone. Erased from the grid in less than fifteen minutes.
