The executive elevator descended to the ground floor in a tense, claustrophobic silence. The digital floor indicator counted down toward the lobby with a soft, rhythmic ping that sounded entirely too much like the server countdown from the night before.
Ethan stood beside me, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his dark coat. I could feel the coiled tension in his frame.
"They’re not here to negotiate a settlement, Sarah," he murmured, his eyes fixed on the silver doors. "The Liang family operates the largest deep-water automated fleet in the South China Sea. Julian was just their proxy to get a foothold in the US defense grid. Now that the bridge is routed through Lagos, you’ve put EML directly in the middle of their primary shipping lane."
"They had their chance to buy the grid th
