Chapter 11 - The Trap Springs Back
My heart hammered against my ribs with frantic desperation. Julian was going to kill Clara in cold blood to tie off the last thread of his corporate sabotage frame-up.
I looked down at Leo, who was staring up at me with wide, trusting eyes in the dim monitor light. I couldn't just run out into the night and abandon an innocent woman to her executioner. But how could I stop a man armed with a hunting knife while holding a two-year-old child?
My eyes scanned the surveillance desk directly beneath the iron grate. A thick master override keyboard sat beside the main console, glowing with a blinking red button labeled: EMERGENCY SYSTEM PURGE & FACILITY LOCKDOWN.
If I pressed that button using a long metal rod from the utility rack beside me, it would trigger a total facility lockdown—dropping heavy steel fire-doors over every hallway, sealing the basement exits, and automatically routing a silent distress signal to the local sheriff’s decentralized backup server.
But doing so would expose our exact location in the sub-corridor.
May you like
I reached out blindly into the dark utility rack, my fingers wrapping around the cold handle of an iron crowbar. I positioned the tool through the bars of the grate, aiming directly for the red panic button on the desk above.
If my aim was off by even an inch, Julian would hear the noise and find our hiding spot before the lockdown could take effect. I took a deep, shuddering breath, aligned the crowbar, and brought it down with all my remaining strength.
