Chapter 10 - The Bedrock Trap
Ethan didn't warn them.
As Mercer moved the duplicate hand toward the glass, Ethan stepped back half an inch, his boot catching the edge of the secondary conduit pipe. With a lightning-fast kick, Ethan snapped the exposed fiber-optic line.
A high-pitched, warbling alarm instantly shattered the subterranean silence.
*SECURITY BREACH DETECTED. LEVEL 4 ISOLATION ENGAGED.*
The heavy hydraulic blast doors behind them slammed shut with a deafening, earth-shaking boom, severing their only exit to the elevator bank. Thick, automated steel shutters dropped over every air vent.
"What did you do?!" Mercer shrieked, dropping the cryo-container as the freezing vapor spilled across the concrete floor.
The two mercenaries raised their weapons, panicked, aiming at Ethan. "Unlock the door!"
"I can't," Ethan said calmly, his voice echoing in the sealed chamber. "The breach protocol isolates this sector for twelve hours to prevent unauthorized access to the family trust. In approximately sixty seconds, the cryogenic fire-suppression vents will flood this entire room with liquid nitrogen vapor to prevent data theft."
"You're insane! You'll die with us!" Mercer screamed, firing his gun at the emergency manual panel. The bullet ricocheted wildly off the reinforced casing, nearly striking his own guard.
"I have something to live for," Ethan whispered.
Before the guards could react, Ethan lunged forward. He grabbed the barrel of the nearest mercenary's rifle, driving his palm up into the man's chin with devastating force. The mercenary collapsed backward. Ethan stripped the weapon, spun on his heel, and fired two precise rounds into the second guard's shoulder and knee, incapacitating him instantly.
Mercer backed against the massive blast door, trembling, raising his small pistol with shaking hands. "Ethan... please... I know where Victoria is holding them!"
Ethan stepped forward, knocking the gun from Mercer's hand with a single, brutal strike. He grabbed Mercer by his tailored lapels, slamming him hard against the steel door.
"Tell me where they are," Ethan demanded, his eyes burning with a lethal darkness that made the lawyer sob in terror.
"A warehouse... the old rail yards in Jersey City! Pier 14!" Mercer gasped as freezing mist began to hiss from the ceiling vents, frosting the air between them. "She has them in an administrative office on the water! But you can't get out of here, Ethan! We're trapped!"
Ethan reached into his pocket, pulling out the small bronze key he had used months ago during their first escape—the master mechanical key to the tower's foundational drainage conduits.
He dragged Mercer by the collar toward a small maintenance grate set into the floor. "You stay here and enjoy the cold, Jonathan."
May you like
Ethan popped the grate open, dove into the pitch-black drainage shaft below, and kicked the hatch shut behind him just as the cryogenic fog consumed the room above.
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