Sloan’s fingers froze halfway toward the crystal water pitcher when she saw the new server’s hands.

The north slip of Pier 42 was a dark, rain-slicked wooden catwalk sticking out over the churning ocean water.

Julian Thorne stumbled backward, his expensive coat soaked with rain, his hands raised in terror as he backed up against the rusted chain-link fence.

Dominic Vance walked slowly down the catwalk, his gun held low at his side, his face a mask of absolute, unyielding stone. Sloan followed ten feet behind him, keeping her eyes scanning the shadows for any lingering Apex mercenaries.

"Dominic... wait!" Thorne begged, his voice high-pitched and hysterical. "It was business! Just business! Vanguard Capital wanted the deep-water port! We were going to offer you forty percent!"

"You put a gun in my restaurant," Vance said, his voice terrifyingly calm over the sound of the crashing waves. "You endangered my guests. And you tried to hunt down an innocent woman who was just doing her job."

"I can pay you!" Thorne screamed, reaching into his pocket. "Fifty million! One hundred million! Transferred tonight to any offshore account you want!"

Vance stopped three feet away. He raised the gun, pointing it directly between Thorne’s eyes.

"Money can buy land, Thorne," Vance said softly. "It can buy politicians. It can buy mercenaries. But it doesn't buy forgiveness in Portland."

"Wait!" Sloan yelled from behind Vance.

Vance paused, his finger resting lightly on the trigger. He didn't lower the gun, but he glanced back at her. "Sloan... step back. You don't need to see this."

"I don't care about seeing him die," Sloan said, stepping forward until she was standing beside Vance. "I care about his phone."

Thorne blinked. "My... my phone?"

"Look at his coat pocket," Sloan pointed out, her razor-sharp observation operational even amidst the violence. "The red light on his collar pin. He’s been livestreaming this entire confrontation to his board of directors on an encrypted Vanguard server."

Vance’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Thorne’s lapel. Sure enough, a microscopic camera lens was blinking faintly in the dark.

"If you shoot him right now," Sloan explained, "the Vanguard board gets a live video of Dominic Vance executing a CEO. They’ll hand the footage straight to the FBI, and you’ll spend the rest of your life in a federal supermax prison. He wanted you to kill him here. It was his ultimate poison pill."

Thorne’s face went completely pale. The arrogant smirk he had tried to hide vanished completely. Sloan had seen right through his final trap.

Vance looked down at the tiny camera, then looked at Sloan with a feeling approaching awe.

"You really do see everything, don't you?" Vance whispered.

"I see a coward who thought he was playing chess," Sloan said, walking right up to Thorne. She reached out and ripped the lapel pin off his coat, tossing it into the dark water below. Then, she snatched his encrypted smartphone out of his pocket.

"The phone has the private key to Vanguard’s illegal offshore slush funds," Sloan said, tapping the screen. "I saw him type the master passcode when he tried to bribe me in the warehouse. 8-4-1-9-2."

The phone unlocked. Millions of lines of secret financial ledgers, illegal bribes to city officials, and contract-killing receipts appeared on the bright screen.

Vance let out a low, dark laugh. He lowered his gun and slotted it back into his shoulder holster.

"Shooting you is too clean, Thorne," Vance said, taking the phone from Sloan’s hand. "Instead, I'm going to turn this phone over to the U.S. Attorney’s office. By tomorrow morning, Vanguard Capital will be bankrupt, your board of directors will be arrested, and you will spend the next forty years in a federal prison sharing a cell with the men you paid to kill me."

Marcus stepped up behind Thorne, pulling his hands roughly behind his back and slapping heavy steel handcuffs onto his wrists.

"Take him away," Vance ordered softly.

As Marcus dragged the sobbing CEO into the shadows, Vance turned to face Sloan. The ocean wind whipped her dark hair across her face. Rain trickled down her cheeks, but her eyes were bright, clear, and steady.

"You saved me again," Vance said softly, stepping closer to her. "That’s twice in six hours."