Chapter 7 - The Body Double
The bullet sparked violently against the metal floor grate where Richard had just been standing.
Richard had already dove gracefully off the pressure plate the exact second the lights shattered.
He hit the concrete floor and rolled silently into the deep shadows near a massive steel support beam.
He waited for the devastating explosion to consume the building, bracing his body for the shockwave.
Absolutely nothing happened.
There was no explosion, no fire, and no triggered bomb beneath the floorboards.
The pressure plate was nothing but a brilliant psychological bluff designed to keep him frozen in place.
Richard moved swiftly through the darkness, using his decades of close-quarters combat training to navigate blindly.
He could hear Ethan cursing and dragging a struggling Emily up a set of metal scaffolding stairs nearby.
Richard silently closed the distance, climbing the metal stairs two at a time without making a single sound.
He reached the upper catwalk and lunged forward into the dark, tackling the armed man violently from behind.
They crashed heavily onto the steel grating, the silver pistol skittering uselessly away into the abyss below.
The man fought back with surprising, brutal strength, throwing wild punches in the pitch-black environment.
Richard deflected a heavy blow and countered with a devastating strike to the man's throat.
The man gagged and collapsed to the floor, completely incapacitated by the precise, lethal attack.
Richard quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small tactical flashlight, clicking it on to check his daughter.
The bright beam pierced the darkness, illuminating the groaning man lying broken on the catwalk.
Richard stared down at the bleeding face, a sickening wave of confusion crashing over his mind.
The man he had just defeated was wearing Ethan's expensive clothes, but it was absolutely not Ethan.
It was a hired body double, surgically altered and paid to act as a distraction while the real target escaped.
A cold, mocking laugh suddenly echoed from the opposite side of the massive silo.
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Richard swung the flashlight beam across the darkness, illuminating the highest level of the catwalk.
The real Ethan Caldwell stood safely near the roof access hatch, holding Emily tightly by her throat.
