Chapter 13 - Race Against Time
The basement room felt like it lost all oxygen.
Olivia’s face went completely pale.
"What did you say?" Olivia whispered, her voice trembling violently.
"My mother..."
"Tick-tock, Miss Brooks," Marcus grinned maniacally, blood dripping down his chin.
"Twelve minutes until midnight."
"My team in Ohio is waiting for my encrypted signal."
"If they don't get it, your sick mother won't wake up tomorrow morning."
Olivia turned to Harrison in absolute panic.
"Harrison! Please!" she pleaded, tears breaking out in her eyes. "We have to save her!"
Harrison did not hesitate for a single second.
He pulled his smartphone from his pocket and hit speed dial.
"Command Center, this is Harrison Blackwell," he spoke with icy authority.
"Deploy Private Strike Team Alpha to my mother-in-law's residential address in Columbus, Ohio."
"Full tactical assault."
"Neutralize any hostiles within three blocks of the house."
"You have six minutes."
He hung up and looked back at Marcus.
Marcus’s crazy smile faded slightly, replaced by a flicker of doubt.
"You're bluffing," Marcus stammered. "Your team can't reach Ohio in six minutes!"
"I bought a private military contracting firm last year, Marcus," Harrison said coldly, walking slowly toward him.
"I have two armed stealth helicopters stationed at a private airfield four miles from her house."
Harrison grabbed Marcus by the throat, squeezing hard.
"Now, give me the override code to cancel your team's order, or I will break your neck before my team even lands."
"I... I can't!" Marcus choked out, struggling for air. "It's an automated dead-man's switch!"
"Only the central server in Geneva can cancel it!"
Olivia’s mind raced back to her digital security training.
"The Swiss shell company!" Olivia shouted, running toward the interrogation room's computer terminal.
"Marcus’s laptop in his office! His private server is linked to the Geneva node!"
She rapidly began typing on the terminal keyboard, her fingers flying across the keys.
"I need Marcus’s biometric thumbprint to bypass the firewall!" Olivia called out.
Harrison didn't hesitate.
He dragged Marcus across the floor by his collar and smashed his bleeding thumb onto the scanner pad beside Olivia.
ACCESS GRANTED.
"Three minutes until midnight!" Olivia screamed, watching the digital countdown clock on the screen tick down violently.
179... 178... 177...
"I need the Swiss server IP address!" Olivia yelled, glaring at Marcus.
Marcus gritted his teeth, refusing to speak.
Harrison reached down, grabbed a pair of heavy pliers from the workbench, and placed them against Marcus’s broken finger.
"Speak," Harrison commanded in a voice from hell.
"192.168.4.101!" Marcus screamed in sheer terror. "192.168.4.101!"
Olivia typed the numbers frantically.
The countdown hit 15 seconds.
14... 13... 12...
"Come on... come on..." Olivia sobbed, hitting the execute button to override the satellite signal.
10... 9... 8...
The screen flashed red, then suddenly turned bright green.
SIGNAL TERMINATED. TARGET SAVED.
Olivia collapsed back into her chair, burying her face in her hands as tears poured down her cheeks.
Harrison’s phone rang.
"Mr. Blackwell," his tactical lead reported over the speaker.
"Hostiles neutralized outside the residence."
"Your mother-in-law is completely safe and unaware of any danger."
Harrison let out a heavy breath, looking over at Olivia with deep relief.
Then he looked down at Marcus.
May you like
"Take him to the deepest hole in international waters," Harrison ordered his men.
"He will never see the sun again."
