Chapter 7 - The Clock Ticks
The sickening realization washed over Gwen as she stared at the mechanical schematics in the dimly lit study.
Douglas wasn't just planning to kidnap the children and run away with the embezzled corporate funds.
He had orchestrated this entire scenario to lure them to this remote compound so they would have a fatal accident on the mountain road.
She shoved the grim documents into her jacket and sprinted back through the dark hallways to the extraction point.
Gideon was waiting in the driver's seat of the stealth vehicle, the engine quietly purring as he checked the perimeter monitors.
Gwen threw herself into the passenger seat, screaming at him not to touch the transmission or put the car in drive.
She handed him the terrifying insurance dossier, pointing frantically to the highlighted diagrams of the vehicle's brake lines and steering column.
Gideon's face went pale as he realized the brake lines had been rigged with a digital timer synced to the engine's ignition.
He immediately turned off the engine, but instead of shutting down, the dashboard locked out and a red timer appeared on the screen.
A mechanical voice from the speakers announced that they had exactly three minutes before the structural fail-safes would disengage.
Douglas had anticipated their infiltration and turned their escape vehicle into a computerized death trap.
They frantically kicked at the doors, but the reinforced security locks had engaged, trapping them inside the armored cabin.
Gideon pulled a specialized tactical knife from his boot and began violently prying at the electronic control panel under the dashboard.
Sparks flew as he severed wires, trying desperately to bypass the locked doors before the timer hit zero.
With thirty seconds left, Gwen remembered a manual emergency release latch she had once read about in the manufacturer's manual.
She crawled into the backseat, ripping away the leather upholstery to expose a hidden steel cable.
She pulled it with all her strength, and the heavy rear door finally popped open with a hiss of depressurized air.
They scrambled out of the vehicle and sprinted toward the treeline just as the timer hit zero.
The car didn't explode, but the steering locked, the brakes snapped, and it violently accelerated on its own, launching off the nearby cliff into the dark ravine below.
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As they watched the fiery wreckage illuminate the canyon, Gideon's phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number.
It was a video file showing Toby and Maisie locked inside a private terminal, and a flight countdown reading forty-five minutes.
