“Please stop…” The girl’s whisper was almost lost beneath the hiss of the garden hose. She sat trembling in her wheelchair in the middle of the wet driveway, soaked from her hair to her sneakers. Her light blue T-shirt clung to her shoulders.

The following evening, rainfall slicked the dark, industrial streets of Newark, New Jersey.

An unmarked black van pulled into the alleyway behind a dilapidated brick building that bore a faded sign: Thorne Medical Research.

Inside the van, Sam checked his weapon while David adjusted a small earpiece.

"We have confirmation that Helen is inside," Sam said, looking at a thermal imaging tablet. "She’s with Thorne and Arthur. They know the police are searching for Helen, so they’re planning to move her out of the country via a private airstrip in Teterboro at midnight."

"Are the state police in position?" David asked.

"Detective Vance from the financial crimes division is two blocks away," Sam replied. "As soon as we secure the physical evidence—the medical ledgers and the toxin supplies—they’ll move in."

"I'm going in with you," David said.

"David, it could get dangerous," Sam warned.

"They tried to steal my daughter’s life," David replied, his voice devoid of fear. "I'm not sitting in the van."

Sam nodded, signaling two of his security team members. They breached the heavy metal back door with a silent hydraulic tool, slipping into the dark, sterile corridor of the illegal laboratory.

They moved quickly, passing rooms filled with chemical centrifuges and locked medical cabinets. At the end of the hall, a room was illuminated by yellow light. Voices were raised in a heated argument.

"...you panicked, you stupid woman!" a sharp, raspy voice shouted. It belonged to Dr. Julian Thorne. "Spraying her with water? You exposed the entire operation because you lost your temper!"

"She was defying me!" Helen’s voice shrieked back. "How was I supposed to know the adrenaline would flush the blocker out of her system? Thorne, you told me the paralysis was undetectable!"

"It WAS undetectable until you gave David a reason to test her blood!" Arthur Vance’s angry voice chimed in. "The police have frozen the Cayman accounts! We are ruined!"