*”To the merger, gentlemen!”
* Nick roared, followed by the clinking of crystal champagne flutes:
*”To the acquisition of Vanguard Creative Group by The Holbrook-Vance Syndicate!”
*
*”With Sebastian Miller removed from the operational registry, our intellectual property conveyance is complete!
We sign the master asset transfer at twelve o’clock, and the wire from Zurich clears the clearinghouse before the banks close!”
*
I picked up the titanium key.
I picked up the broken frame of my family.
I walked down the central hallway of the agency.
I didn’t knock on the frosted glass.
I drove my right Red Wing boot directly into the center seam of the double mahogany doors with two hundred pounds of linear kinetic force:
*KABOOM.
*
The heavy glass doors did not swing open; the brass latch sheared clean out of the jamb, the two panels slamming inward against the drywall stops with concussive, deafening violence:
