Chapter 1 - The Man Who Walked Through the Door
The first thing Lily Chen noticed was that the giant had blood on his cuff.
The second was that every armed man in the restaurant had stopped breathing.
The front doors of Castellano's had blown inward. Glass glittered across the black marble. A security guard lay against the bar, groaning, while a second man crawled behind a overturned table. Diners crouched beneath linen tablecloths. Somewhere near the kitchen, a woman was crying into her phone.
The stranger kept coming.
He stood six feet eight, maybe more, with shoulders broad enough to block the chandelier light. His dark coat hung open. One hand was empty. The other held a narrow knife low against his thigh.
He looked at Victor Castellano.
At Table Nine, the most feared man in the city finally set down his menu.
"You're late," Victor said.
The giant smiled without warmth. "Traffic."
Five men sat with Victor. Two reached for their jackets. A third moved to stand.
"Sit down, Eddie," Victor said.
Eddie froze.
Lily stood beside a service cart, a silver tray balanced in her left hand. Her pulse beat hard in her throat, but her fingers had gone strangely calm. The trembling that had betrayed her when she broke the four-hundred-dollar wineglass was gone.
"Miss," whispered Marcus, the floor manager, from behind the service station. "Get in the kitchen. Now."
Lily glanced at the kitchen doors. Tomas, the head chef, had already pulled them open. He was waving her through.
She did not move.
The giant's gaze found her. "You. Step away from the table."
Lily set the tray on the nearest table.
Victor's eyes narrowed. "Leave the girl out of this."
"Then tell your people to put their hands where I can see them."
"You're in my restaurant."
"I'm aware."
The giant reached for his waistband. Lily saw the movement before the knife appeared. She also saw the small black device clipped inside his coat, the wire running beneath his collar, and the way his right foot dragged half an inch behind the left.
He had been hurt before he came in.
Lily picked up a folded dinner napkin.
"Sir," she said, voice thin enough to sound frightened. "You have something on your sleeve."
The giant glanced down.
That was all she needed.
She snapped the napkin into his face, not to blind him but to make him blink. At the same time, she kicked the service cart hard. Its wheels shot forward, slamming into his injured knee. He staggered. Lily caught the edge of the tablecloth and yanked.
Plates, silverware, and a heavy ice bucket crashed across his path.
The giant hit the floor on one knee.
A gun came free from his coat.
Lily drove the heel of her shoe onto his wrist. The weapon skidded beneath a chair. Before he could rise, she twisted his arm behind him and pressed his face against the marble.
The entire restaurant went silent.
Victor stared at her.
The giant struggled once, then stopped when Lily leaned close and whispered, "Don't make me hurt you."
A tiny red light blinked beneath his collar.
Lily's stomach dropped.
It wasn't a wire for a bomb.
It was a live microphone.
The giant laughed against the floor. "You have no idea what you just stopped."
Victor stood slowly. "I think she does."
Lily looked at the device, then at Victor.
May you like
And from the kitchen doorway, Marcus said the one thing that made her blood turn cold.
"Mr. Castellano… the police are already outside."
