Chapter 10 - Ninety Seconds
Panic erupted instantly.
Marcus ordered everyone away from the kitchen.
Daniel grabbed Eleanor.
Ryan reached for Sophie.
She pulled away.
“Lily.”
Marcus answered.
“She is secure.”
The timer continued.
Eighty seconds.
Seventy-nine.
Sophie stared at the device.
It was not attached to the house.
It was connected to the emergency system.
Michael smiled.
“You see, Sophie, your father loved technology.”
Sophie understood.
“He built a failsafe.”
Michael nodded.
“When the recording was accessed, the system began purging itself.”
Marcus looked at the device.
“It is not a bomb.”
Michael laughed.
“No.”
He pointed toward the server panel.
“It is an encryption purge.”
Sophie realized the truth.
If the timer reached zero, the evidence would be destroyed.
Michael did not need to kill them.
He only needed to erase the proof.
Sophie moved toward the panel.
Michael raised his weapon.
“Stop.”
Ryan stepped in front of her.
Michael looked at him.
“Move.”
Ryan shook his head.
Michael's face hardened.
“You're already dying.”
Ryan answered.
“I know.”
Then he moved closer.
“But you're still afraid.”
Michael's hand trembled.
Sophie saw it.
Marcus saw it too.
Michael fired.
Ryan dropped.
Sophie screamed.
Marcus tackled Michael.
Daniel pulled Sophie toward the server.
The timer showed forty seconds.
Sophie opened the panel.
Three cables.
One blue.
One black.
One red.
She remembered her father's instructions.
Never cut the red wire.
She reached for the black.
The timer continued.
Thirty seconds.
The server began flashing.
Sophie pulled the cable.
The lights went out.
For one terrible second, everything was silent.
Then the emergency system rebooted.
The screen displayed:
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
Sophie stared.
The evidence had survived.
Marcus restrained Michael.
Daniel stood over Ryan.
Sophie rushed to her husband.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Ryan opened his eyes.
“Did we get it?”
Sophie nodded.
“Yes.”
He smiled weakly.
“Good.”
Michael laughed from across the room.
“You think you've won?”
Sophie turned.
Michael looked directly at her.
“There is one thing your father never told you.”
Sophie stood.
“What?”
Michael smiled.
“Your father didn't die because of the company.”
Daniel's face changed.
Michael continued.
“He died because he discovered who your real enemy was.”
Sophie felt cold.
“Who?”
Michael looked toward Eleanor.
Then toward Ryan.
Finally, he smiled at Sophie.
“Someone you have trusted your entire life.”
The police sirens began outside.
Michael was taken away.
But his final words stayed behind.
Sophie looked at Daniel.
“Who was he talking about?”
Daniel did not answer.
Then Lily emerged from the safe room.
She was holding something.
A small silver key.
She gave it to Sophie.
“Mommy, Grandpa told me to give you this when the bad man came.”
Sophie stared at the key.
May you like
Her father had left one final secret.
The countdown seemed to make every second louder. Sophie remembered her father's habit of solving problems by removing emotion from the equation. She forced herself to breathe slowly. The device was designed to create panic, and panic was exactly what Michael needed. She refused to give it to him. Instead, she studied the cables, the lights, and the server indicators until the pattern became clear. Her father had built the system for someone willing to think under pressure.
