The footsteps came from three separate directions: the east stairway, the west stairwell, and what sounded like someone mounting the fire escape she had used. Derek had planned everything properly, deploying his associates to block every possible departure path.
"You look concerned," Derek said, taking a cigarette from his jacket pocket with deliberate casualness. "Do not be." "This is just business."
Grace's thoughts raced with options. Derek's crew controlled the stairwells of the three-story warehouse, which had boarded windows and concrete flooring. However, industrial structures like this have other elements, such as service elevators, maintenance shafts, and potentially operable loading machinery.
"Santos, do you copy?" she murmured, hoping her microphone was still working.
Derek
