Chapter 5 - The Ashes of Trust
Panic surged through Roman as he stared at the glowing red numbers on the explosive device.
Nora grabbed a heavy metal chair and swung it violently against the reinforced window glass, but it merely bounced off.
She realized the safe house was designed to keep people out, making it an absolute death trap from the inside.
With only eight seconds left, Nora dragged Roman into the tiny, heavily reinforced concrete bathroom.
She shoved him into the cast-iron bathtub and threw her own body over him just as the timer hit zero.
The explosion ripped through the main room with terrifying, deafening force.
Flames and shattered debris violently tore through the walls, filling the air with thick, choking black smoke.
The shockwave rattled Roman's teeth, but the heavy iron tub and concrete walls absorbed the worst of the deadly blast.
They lay tangled together in the rubble, coughing violently as the fire alarm screamed through the ruined building.
Nora pushed herself up, her face covered in gray dust and a thin cut bleeding over her left eye.
She helped Roman to his feet, and they stumbled out through a massive hole the explosion had blown in the exterior wall.
They scrambled down the fire escape just as fire trucks and police cruisers began swarming the industrial block.
They slipped into the dark, rainy shadows of a neighboring alleyway, finally stopping to catch their breath.
Roman punched a brick wall in pure frustration, furious that his own flesh and blood had tried to murder him.
He stated bitterly that the syndicate had officially won, since Chloe had the drive and his brother was working for them.
Nora leaned against the damp brick wall and let out a soft, unexpected chuckle.
She looked at Roman with a fierce, brilliant gleam in her dark eyes.
She reached her hand into the hidden lining of her bulletproof vest and pulled out a small silver object.
Roman gasped as he realized he was staring directly at his own encrypted flash drive.
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Nora smiled fiercely and explained that she had pickpocketed Chloe during the initial chaos in the restaurant.
She revealed that the drive Chloe was currently holding was nothing but a cheap decoy loaded with a vicious tracking virus.
