Chapter 6 - The Dead Man's Switch
Richard froze instantly, keeping his weight perfectly balanced on the small metal floor grate.
He slowly lowered his stolen assault rifle and placed his handgun gently onto the concrete floor.
"Smart man," Ethan mocked through the speakers, his voice dripping with unbearable arrogance.
A heavy steel door hissed open on the far side of the silo, accompanied by the sound of dragging footsteps.
Ethan stepped out from the shadows, forcefully pulling Emily along by her hair.
Emily looked bruised and completely exhausted, but her eyes lit up with desperate hope when she saw her father.
"Dad, just shoot him!" Emily cried out, struggling weakly against Ethan's brutal grip.
Ethan laughed coldly and pressed the barrel of a silver pistol directly against the back of Emily's neck.
"If he shoots me, he steps off the plate, and you both turn into a very ugly fireworks display," Ethan sneered.
Richard stared at his son-in-law, analyzing every micro-expression and physical tell the man displayed.
"What do you want, Ethan?" Richard asked, his voice steady and completely devoid of fear.
"Your daughter found the master ledger detailing my entire dark web client list," Ethan explained angrily.
"She encrypted the file with a military-grade cipher before I could stop her, and I need the decryption key."
Ethan pulled a sleek digital tablet from his jacket and tossed it roughly onto the floor near Richard's feet.
"Type in your old Department of Defense override codes, or I blow her brains out right now," Ethan demanded.
Richard looked down at the tablet, realizing Ethan was entirely desperate to recover his stolen criminal empire.
He slowly bent his knees, maintaining perfect pressure on the plate as he picked up the device.
He activated the digital keyboard, his fingers hovering over the glowing screen.
He did not type a decryption key or a military override code.
Instead, he typed a highly classified emergency distress code that he had memorized twenty years ago.
The code instantly overrode the building's main power grid, sending a massive feedback surge into the lighting system.
Every single lightbulb in the massive silo shattered simultaneously in a shower of brilliant white sparks.
The entire facility was plunged into absolute, pitch-black darkness.
Ethan cursed violently, realizing he had been completely outsmarted by the retired soldier.
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The distinct, terrifying sound of Ethan securing night-vision goggles clicked loudly in the dark.
A bright muzzle flash illuminated the blackness as Ethan blindly fired his pistol directly at the pressure plate.
