I charge for the elevator, jam the button, throw myself inside. The door takes an eternity to close—way too long, but he doesn’t make it. With a friendly Ding!, the elevator starts going down. I lean against the back wall, gasping hard. The floors count down—7, 6, 5… I’ve gotta be ready to break for it the second those doors open. Make it out to my car, drive away… 3, 2, 1… Ding!

I sprint out of the doors, head downs, and slam SMACK into something immovable. My head rings and the sutured flesh where my implant got ripped out starts leaking fluid. I hit the ground hard and point my gun between my knees.

He’s standing there, lost in shadow, fingers flexing steadily.

“Jack Fenix. You killed my sister, and now I’ve come for you.”

Oh shit…

I start yelling: “I didn’t kill her, you dumb bastard—CyberCorp did!”.

I blast him between the eyes.