Chapter 6 - Blood and Gasoline
The overwhelming stench of highly refined gasoline burned my lungs as I sprinted toward Major Hayes.
His face was severely beaten, and his wrists were bleeding heavily from struggling against the thick steel chains.
He begged me frantically to leave him behind and save myself before the thermal purge incinerated everything in the room.
I completely ignored his desperate pleas and dropped to my knees to examine the complex explosive device strapped to his chest.
It was a highly sophisticated dead-man switch directly wired into the main vault door's electronic locking mechanism.
If the explosive detonated, the blast doors would permanently seal, ensuring nobody could ever escape the coming inferno.
The massive digital countdown clock above us ruthlessly ticked down to thirty seconds.
I quickly pulled a small tactical knife from my boot and began carefully stripping the thick colored wires of the bomb.
Hayes whispered weakly that my mother had personally overseen his brutal torture in the warehouse.
He confessed that she had proudly admitted to orchestrating my father's terminal cancer through slow, untraceable chemical poisoning.
A wave of pure, unadulterated rage washed over me, but I forced my hands to remain perfectly steady.
I found the primary detonator wire and sliced it cleanly, immediately stopping the bomb's internal timer.
The countdown clock on the wall still mercilessly ticked down to fifteen seconds.
I used the heavy butt of my pistol to violently smash the locking mechanism holding his heavy chains.
The thick metal shattered, and Hayes collapsed heavily into my arms just as the sprinklers stopped spraying gasoline.
A small, automated spark igniter dropped slowly from the ceiling directly toward the highly flammable floor.
I grabbed Hayes firmly by his tactical vest and hurled us both toward the heavy steel blast doors.
I fired three rapid shots directly into the electronic control panel of the heavy door.
The damaged circuits sparked violently, causing the heavy magnetic locks to fail and slide open just a fraction of an inch.
I kicked the heavy door open with all my remaining strength and dragged Hayes into the cool concrete hallway.
A massive wall of blistering orange fire erupted violently inside the vault, incinerating the priceless prototype instantly.
The powerful shockwave threw us aggressively down the long corridor, leaving my ears ringing fiercely.
I gasped for clean air, heavily relieved that we had miraculously survived my mother's brutal death trap.
I turned to check on Hayes, fully expecting to see profound gratitude in his bruised eyes.
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Instead, Major Hayes was standing perfectly upright, aiming a loaded weapon directly at my head.
He smiled coldly and said he was deeply sorry, but the kidnapping story had always been a total lie.
