Chapter 7 - The Ticking Clock
A tiny digital clock suddenly illuminated completely beneath the metal seat of Ava's fragile wheelchair.
The glowing red numbers counted down rapidly and aggressively from exactly ten minutes.
Ethan violently dropped to his knees in pure panic, frantically inspecting the highly complex wiring.
He quickly realized the explosive device was deeply integrated entirely into the chair's main battery system.
If he simply pulled Ava out of the comfortable seat, a highly sensitive pressure sensor would instantly detonate the bomb.
Ava cried softly, desperately begging Ethan to leave the safe house immediately and save himself.
"I am absolutely never leaving you," Ethan fiercely declared, his hands shaking wildly completely over the wires.
Lena ran quickly into the room carrying a heavy tactical toolbox she successfully found in the garage.
She confidently explained she had highly basic explosive ordnance training from her previous, secretive military tours.
She carefully and skillfully removed the side panel of the wheelchair to entirely expose the central detonator.
"There are exactly three wires, but they are all painted the exact same completely black color," Lena whispered nervously.
Margaret's wicked voice echoed cruelly and loudly from the hacked laptop speakers.
She cheerfully mocked their deeply pathetic desperation, completely enjoying their absolute, undeniable terror.
Ethan forcefully grabbed the laptop and screamed aggressively at his mother to stop this sheer madness.
Margaret simply laughed coldly and entirely disconnected the highly secure live video feed.
The timer aggressively ticked down flawlessly to the final, highly terrifying sixty seconds.
Sweat poured heavily completely down Ethan's face as he gently held his deeply terrified wife's trembling hands.
Lena intensely studied the highly complex circuit board, fiercely praying for a miraculous burst of absolute clarity.
With exactly ten seconds remaining, Lena made a wildly desperate, completely instinctual decision.
She tightly took her metal wire cutters and sliced completely through the incredibly thick central cable.
The glowing red timer instantly froze perfectly at exactly three terrifying seconds.
They all completely collapsed onto the floor, heavily gasping for air in profound, overwhelming relief.
Ava leaned forward gracefully and kissed Ethan, deeply and entirely grateful to be fully alive.
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But their brief, beautiful moment of victory was violently interrupted completely by a massive crash outside.
A heavily armored military helicopter suddenly descended directly and violently onto the safe house roof.
