Chapter 7 - The Ticking Clock
The red emergency lights pulsed rhythmically, casting long, sinister shadows across the destroyed living room.
Elena was weeping quietly near the kitchen island, completely broken by the chaotic violence unfolding in her home.
Underneath the dining table, Sarah clutched her pregnant belly, absolutely terrified by the ticking clock on their lives.
"You are bluffing, Leo, you wouldn't blow yourself up just to get a notebook," Daniel stated, keeping the rifle perfectly steady.
Leo smiled, pulling a sleek detonator remote from his tactical vest and holding his thumb dangerously close to the trigger.
"It is a dead-man's switch, Daniel, if my thumb slips, we all turn to ash right now," Leo explained with a psychotic grin.
He demanded that Daniel slide the black notebook across the floor and let him walk out the front door.
Daniel rapidly calculated the tactical situation, realizing a single gunshot could trigger a massive explosive reaction.
He slowly reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out the battered black notebook, and tossed it onto the hardwood floor.
Leo's eyes lit up with greedy triumph as he slowly crouched down to retrieve his multi-million-dollar prize.
"You really should have learned more about who you married, Elena," Leo taunted his sister as his fingers brushed the leather cover.
Daniel didn't respond to the taunt; instead, he subtly tapped his earpiece, connecting to his private security network.
"You think you won, Leo, but you forgot one basic rule of a hostile extraction," Daniel said smoothly.
Leo stood up, clutching the notebook tightly in his left hand while maintaining pressure on the detonator with his right.
"And what rule is that, accountant?" Leo sneered mockingly.
Daniel smiled, a chilling expression that finally revealed the true monster hiding behind his tailored suit.
"Never park your getaway vehicle over a smart-home security grate."
Daniel pressed a sequence of buttons on his encrypted smartwatch.
A massive, deafening explosion rocked the street outside, but it wasn't a blast meant to destroy the neighborhood.
It was a highly focused, localized EMP blast generated from Daniel's driveway security system.
The electromagnetic pulse instantly fried the electronic detonator in Leo's hand, rendering the dead-man's switch completely useless.
Leo stared at the dead plastic device in his hand, his arrogant smile vanishing into pure, unadulterated panic.
Before Leo could dive for his dropped weapon, Daniel closed the distance and struck him viciously across the jaw, knocking him out cold.
Daniel looked down at his ruined living room and sighed heavily, adjusting his suit jacket.
Suddenly, Daniel's encrypted phone began to vibrate violently in his pocket with a priority alert.
May you like
He answered the call, and the voice on the other end made his blood run completely cold.
"You stopped Leo, but Marcus just broke into your ex-wife's house, and he has taken your daughter, Lily."
