Chapter 9 - The Choice
The digital timer on the massive bomb read exactly three minutes.
Maria looked up at me with absolute terror shining in her beautiful eyes.
"Daniel, you have to run!" she screamed over the sound of the pouring rain.
"Silas set this trap for you, these men were never the FBI!"
I climbed into the back of the wrecked van and threw my gun onto the wet floor.
"I stopped walking away from people I care about a long time ago," I told her firmly.
I pulled my tactical knife from my belt and began violently cutting the heavy zip ties binding her wrists.
I carefully examined the incredibly complex wiring of the explosive vest.
There were four thick wires connected to the primary detonator: red, blue, yellow, and green.
My hands actually trembled as the red digital numbers ticked down to sixty seconds.
"Please, Daniel, go find Sofia before they kill her," Maria begged, tears streaming down her face.
I ignored her desperate pleas and focused entirely on the intricate copper wires.
I remembered a crucial lesson an old demolitions expert had taught me when I was a teenager.
"The trigger is always hidden directly behind the most obvious distraction."
With exactly ten seconds left on the clock, I sliced cleanly through the green wire.
The red digital timer froze perfectly at seven seconds.
I ripped the heavy vest off her body and threw it out the back doors of the van.
Maria threw her arms around my neck, sobbing uncontrollably into my wet shoulder.
"Where did the mercenaries take Sofia?" I whispered fiercely into her ear.
May you like
Maria pulled back gently, wiping the rain and tears from her pale face.
"They took her to the old abandoned cathedral in Queens," she answered with a shaking voice.
