Chapter 5 - The Voice from the Void
My father stared down at the ringing burner phone as if it were a highly venomous snake ready to strike.
Olivia crept closer to him, shivering violently in her ruined designer winter coat.
She urged him to answer the phone immediately, praying it was a hostage negotiator or the local police department.
My father swallowed hard, his throat completely dry, and pressed the bright green button on the screen.
He slowly raised the cheap plastic device to his freezing ear, his hand shaking uncontrollably.
"Who is this?" my father demanded, trying desperately to sound brave and authoritative.
I calmly unmuted my encrypted microphone from the absolute safety of my naval base apartment.
"Hello, Dad," I said, keeping my voice perfectly calm, level, and entirely devoid of emotion.
My father gasped loudly, dropping his arrogant, entitled facade instantly upon hearing my voice.
"You insane witch, turn the heat back on and open these doors right now!" he screamed into the receiver.
Olivia violently grabbed the phone from his hands and began to plead hysterically into the microphone.
"Please, we are freezing to death in here, you have made your point and we are sorry!" Olivia cried.
"You told me to go back to my base, Olivia," I reminded her with a gentle, terrifying calmness.
"I simply followed your direct instructions and left you to enjoy the house you wanted so badly."
Susan could be heard wailing loudly in the background, begging for someone to show them mercy.
"You have exactly thirty seconds to leave my property before the secondary protocol begins," I warned them sternly.
"We cannot leave, the doors are completely locked and the windows are barricaded!" my father shouted in the background.
"There is a manual release lever hidden directly behind the portrait of mom in the hallway," I replied smoothly.
My father dropped the phone onto the floor and sprinted desperately toward the dusty oil painting.
He ripped the heavy canvas off the wall, revealing a large, industrial red metal lever hidden in the alcove.
He grabbed the handle and pulled it down with all of his remaining physical strength.
The heavy titanium storm shutters slowly began to retract upward with a loud, mechanical grinding noise.
The electronic deadbolts disengaged sequentially, and the front door finally swung open into the snowy night.
They all rushed toward the exit in a frantic stampede, absolutely desperate to escape the freezing digital prison.
They burst out onto the front porch, gasping heavily for the fresh, freezing mountain air.
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That was when they finally noticed David was missing, and the luxury SUV was completely gone from the driveway.
A terrifying, bright red laser sight suddenly appeared squarely on the center of my father’s chest.
