The manifest in Elias’s hands was damp from the harbor fog. He ran his thumb over the entry at the bottom of the page: .
As he reached for the latch, a low, rhythmic thumping started from within the metal walls. It wasn't the sound of shifting cargo. It was a heartbeat. 5825-3104988
Elias realized then that wasn't a serial number for a machine or a box of parts. It was a countdown, and according to his watch, the last digit had just clicked to zero. The manifest in Elias’s hands was damp from the harbor fog