Chapter 9 - The Wire
The digital timer on the wheelchair bomb flashed violently, showing only exactly two minutes left until detonation.
Victoria laughed triumphantly, grabbed the USB drive from the computer, and ran out into the hallway.
She locked the heavy security gate behind her, trapping them inside the room with the ticking explosive.
Maya dropped to her knees beside the wheelchair, her hands shaking as she examined the complex wiring.
There were dozens of colored wires tangled around the main detonator, designed specifically to confuse anyone trying to disarm it.
Alexander groaned loudly, forcing his eyes open through the blinding pain of his gunshot wound.
He dragged his bleeding body across the floor until he was resting right next to his mother's chair.
He told Maya that he had served in the military engineers division before taking over the family company.
His voice was incredibly weak, but he guided Maya's trembling hands toward a specific cluster of wires.
"Find the blue wire with the yellow stripe, and cut it exactly when the timer hits ten seconds," he ordered weakly.
Maya grabbed a small pair of medical scissors from the room's emergency first aid kit.
The sweat poured down her face as the red numbers ticked down mercilessly.
Twenty seconds.
Fifteen seconds.
She isolated the specific blue and yellow wire, holding her breath as she waited for the perfect moment.
At exactly ten seconds, Maya clamped the scissors shut, slicing cleanly through the thick copper wire.
The digital timer instantly went completely dark, and the terrifying humming of the battery stopped.
They had survived the bomb, but a loud, electronic chime suddenly echoed from the main computer console.
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Victoria had successfully initiated a remote hostile takeover of the palace's digital medical servers.
A progress bar appeared on the screen, actively deleting the chemical formula for the antidote before they could use it.
