“Hey, I’d hate to break your boy,” I said. I pushed off from the door and slid right, sneakers screeching against black marble. “Tell him to back off, or this shit starts happenin’.”

Esmail stopped, and Lancombe laughed.

“I seriously doubt you could.” He nodded at Esmail, who stopped approaching. A condescending smirk twisted his mouth. I gave him the finger.

“Well, we want our property. You have it.”

“I don’t want none of you guys near me. Professional distrust. You back away from the desk, I’ll come put your shit there, you make the numbers in my account bigger, and I ride my happy ass right on out that door. Everyone wins.”

Lancombe laughed again, and he and Hachiro moved away from the desk. Esmail stepped to keep himself between me and his employers while I went to the desk.

I pulled out the package and laid it on the desk. There was a little blood on it. Lancombe pulled out a small datapad and keyed in some commands.

Money’s in, came the voice. Holy shit, the money’s in!

“Fan-fucking-tastic.”