Chapter 4 - The Voice of the Dead
The sudden darkness was so absolute that I couldn't even see my own hands.
The digital smart-home panel on the wall glowed blood-red, indicating a full facility lockdown.
Marcus had hijacked the mainframe, turning my own fortress into an inescapable prison.
I fumbled in the dark, grabbing Annie’s hand to make sure she was still beside me.
The intercom crackled again, but this time Marcus dropped all pretenses of friendship.
He told me he knew I had the USB drive and that he would let the boys live if I handed it over.
I felt a surge of rage so violent it tasted like copper in my mouth.
I yelled into the intercom that I was going to kill him with my bare hands.
Marcus simply laughed and said he had just released the man with the scar into the house.
He gave us exactly five minutes to surrender the drive before the hitman breached the bedroom door.
I knew the reinforced oak door would not hold against professional breaching tools for long.
I woke the twins gently, placing my hands over their mouths to keep them from screaming in the dark.
I told Jordan and Justin that we were going to play a special game of hide-and-seek.
I crawled to the floor vent in the corner of the room, using a pocket knife to unscrew the heavy metal grate.
The ventilation shafts in this house were designed to be large enough for industrial cleaning equipment.
I pushed the boys into the dusty tunnel first, followed by Annie.
I climbed in last, pulling the heavy metal grate back into place just as the bedroom door exploded off its hinges.
We scrambled through the narrow metal tube, trying to make as little noise as possible.
We reached a junction above the living room and I looked down through the slats.
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Standing directly below us was the scarred man, holding a suppressed tactical rifle.
He stopped walking, tilted his head toward the ceiling, and aimed his weapon directly at the vent where we were hiding.
