Chapter 6 - The Steel Trap
I moved through the shadows with lethal precision, silently taking down two more mercenaries.
I reached the heavy steel door of the panic room just as it slammed shut behind Vance and Noah.
I heard the massive electronic deadbolts slide heavily into place, sealing them inside.
Daniel was still standing in the middle of the warehouse, waving a flashlight blindly into the darkness.
He was frantically screaming for Vance to come back and protect him.
I stepped out of the shadows and pressed the barrel of my pistol directly against the back of Daniel’s head.
“Drop the flashlight,” I whispered sharply.
Daniel screamed in sheer terror and dropped the light, falling to his knees on the concrete floor.
“Emma, please don’t kill me, they made me do it,” he sobbed pathetically.
I kicked him hard in the ribs, completely disgusted by the coward I had once married.
“Open that panic room door right now, Daniel.”
He cried harder, covering his face with his trembling hands.
“I can’t, Vance changed the security codes this morning.”
I grabbed him by the collar of his expensive suit and slammed him against the steel door.
“Then you are going to tell me exactly what Vance is planning to do with my son.”
Daniel choked on his own tears, terrified of the weapon pressed against his skull.
“Vance doesn’t want your money, Emma.”
I froze, realizing this entire kidnapping was not about Daniel’s gambling debts at all.
“Vance paid off my debts just to use me to get you into a vulnerable position.”
A cold realization washed over me as the true motive finally surfaced.
“He wants revenge for the court-martial, and he wants you to watch him destroy everything you love.”
Suddenly, the intercom speaker above the steel door crackled to life with static.
Vance’s dark, mocking voice echoed through the massive warehouse.
“It’s good to hear your voice again, Sergeant Carter.”
I aimed my weapon at the speaker, my finger trembling with absolute rage.
“Let the boy go, Vance, this is strictly between you and me.”
Vance laughed deeply through the scratchy intercom system.
“You took twenty years of my life, Emma, so I am taking twenty years of yours.”
A loud, mechanical hissing sound suddenly began to echo from inside the panic room.
May you like
I smelled the sharp, unmistakable chemical odor of a highly flammable accelerant filling the enclosed space.
“You have three minutes before I strike a match, Sergeant.”
