Fury drove through DC. He had a lot on his mind. The Lemurian Star operation was looking more and more like he was on to something, but he wasn’t sure what, because he couldn’t access the data on the USB drive. Being locked out of his own security clearance was a bad sign. Someone who didn’t belong had gotten into S.H.I.E.L.D. The question was who.

“Activating communications encryption protocol,” the car computer said.

“Open secure line 0405.”

“Confirmed.”

Maria Hill’s face appeared on a holographic display in the upper left corner of his windshield. “This is Hill.”

“I need you here in DC,” Fury said, getting right to the point. “Deep shadow conditions.”

“Give me four hours.”

“You have three. Over.” He ended the call and stopped at the next light.

A police car pulled up next to him. The two cops inside were both staring at Fury, their expressions hostile and their eyes hidden by mirrored sunglasses.

Fury didn’t have time for hassles from cops. “Want to see my lease?” he said.

The light changed and the cop car started to pull ahead of him. Fury pulled out into the intersection—​and a car slammed into him from the left. His airbag deployed as a second car rear-​ended him. The cop car ahead squealed into reverse, crashing into the front of his car. Dazed, he barely noticed the fourth car hit on the passenger side. He was trapped...​and he had a feeling he wasn’t dealing with actual cops.

His car’s dashboard display was cutting-​edge Stark technology, and it had already done a medical scan. An image of his body, with the left arm blinking red, appeared on a screen. “Fracture detected. Recommend anesthetic injection,” the system reported.

Fury leaned over and punched a syringe from the glove compartment into his arm. Black SUVs skidded to a halt all around him and armed men deployed, all of them pointing guns at Fury’s car.

“DC Metro Police dispatch shows no units in this area,” the car said.

Just as Fury had figured. This was an assassination attempt. The infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. had gone further than he’d thought. It wasn’t just spying. It was a hostile takeover.

“Get me out of here,” he said. Outside, the fake cops opened fire. Fury’s car was armored, and the windows were bulletproof, but they wouldn’t stand up forever.

“Propulsion systems offline,” the car said.

“Then reboot!”

The windows were starred with bullet impacts, but the car could hold out against small-​arms fire for a long time. Fury’s mind raced. He’d been in plenty of tough spots. How would he get out of this one?

The attackers outside stopped firing as four of them hauled a pneumatic battering ram from the back of a van. They set it up right next to Fury’s window. “Warning. Window integrity compromised.”

“You think?” He scooted over into the passenger seat. “How long to propulsion?”

“Calculating.”

When the battering ram slammed into the window, the whole car rocked up on two wheels before bouncing back down. “Window integrity thirty-​one percent,” the car said. “Deploying countermeasures.”

“Hold that order!” He was starting to come up with a plan, but it would depend on perfect timing.

WHAM! The battering ram rocked the car again. “Window integrity nineteen percent. Offensive measures advised.”

“Wait!”

A third blow from the battering ram left the window completely spiderwebbed with cracks. “Window integrity one percent,” the car said.

“Now!” Fury shouted. 5wtw/cpuq/IbiwnUu84+/G5AtfPIECCHS5zH2pX+AWsikylVXH+0aHCfShqxpKHc