(Abandoned Dock, Brooklyn)
Victor tossed her a blood-streaked USB drive.
"Davies knows you're a Sterling."
Surveillance footage played: Davies tearing up Alia's childhood photo in his office.
"He's hired Blackwater. You've got 48 hours before they eliminate you."
Tidewater slapped against the pylons.
Alia drew her ceramic pistol.
"Why save me, then sell me out?"
"I needed you alive to get this."
Victor kicked aside the USB, revealing a cryogenic container beneath—inside, a sample of neurotoxin.
"Davies used this to kill your father. The formula's in—"
A silenced gunshot thudded through the air.
Victor staggered, fell to his knees, blood blooming across his chest.
From the shadows stepped Davies' security chief.
"Boss wants that Sterling chip. Now."
Alia's bullet punched clean through the man's forehead.
As he crumpled, Victor shoved the cryo-box into her arms.
"Find… Carson's mother's…"
His breath rattled out as his finger lifted toward the east—
On a flickering data screen nearby, the Tokyo Stock Exchange lit up with breaking news:
"Davies Global acquires NichiPharma in landmark buyout."