CHAPTER 10 — THE TOWER LOCKDOWN
CHAPTER 10 — THE TOWER LOCKDOWN
Emergency lights flashed red.
Smoke rose through the elevator shafts.
Richard ran toward the side exit.
Luke tackled him before he reached the door.
They crashed against the conference table.
Detective Cole restrained Richard while Ethan checked the security monitors.
The explosion had destroyed the main electrical room.
Fire doors sealed automatically.
Over six hundred employees were trapped inside the tower.
“It’s a diversion,” Ethan said.
Richard laughed from the floor.
“You always did understand business eventually.”
Ethan turned.
“What else did you do?”
Richard looked toward Olivia.
“Ask your wife.”
Everyone stared at her.
Olivia went still.
“What is he talking about?” Ethan demanded.
Richard smiled.
“She planted the device.”
Olivia’s face drained of color.
“No.”
“You carried the package into the building last Tuesday.”
Olivia remembered.
“A legal archive box.”
“You never even opened it.”
Ethan looked at her in disbelief.
Richard continued.
“She has always been useful because she follows instructions before asking questions.”
Olivia’s shame was immediate.
“I didn’t know.”
Ethan’s voice cut through her.
“That sentence should be carved on our marriage certificate.”
An alarm announced that the sprinkler system had failed.
The fire department could not access the lower levels because security barriers had locked.
Ethan knew the building better than anyone.
He led employees toward the rooftop stairwells while Luke helped firefighters reach the manual suppression controls.
Olivia stayed with Noah and their mother in the boardroom under police protection.
But Richard had one more loyal guard hidden among the officers.
The man attacked Detective Cole and freed him.
Richard grabbed Noah.
He pressed a gun against the boy’s side.
Olivia stepped forward.
“Take me instead.”
“You?” Richard sneered. “You were never family.”
Noah trembled.
Ethan entered the hallway and stopped.
Richard pulled the boy toward the private elevator.
“Open the executive escape lift.”
“It won’t work without my fingerprint.”
“Then come closer.”
Ethan raised his hand toward the scanner.
Noah looked at him.
“Dad…”
Ethan met his son’s terrified eyes.
“I’m right here, buddy.”
Luke appeared silently behind Richard.
Olivia saw him.
Her eyes shifted for half a second.
Richard noticed.
He turned and fired.
Luke shoved Noah away.
The bullet struck Luke in the chest.
Ethan caught his son as Luke collapsed.
Richard escaped into the lift.
Olivia dropped beside Luke.
Blood spread beneath him.
Luke struggled to breathe.
He looked at Ethan.
May you like
“Don’t let him… take another year.”
Then his eyes closed.
