Chapter 5 - Severing the Wire
"Boss, we have ninety seconds," Marcus said, sweat glistening on his forehead under the red emergency lights. "We can’t defuse thermite with hand tools. We have to clear the floor."
"No," Dominic countered. "Thermite needs an electric detonator to initiate the magnesium fuse. Look at the leads." He pointed with the tip of his weapon. "Two wires. One connects to the battery, one to the tripwire mechanism on Clara's back. If you move her, the circuit completes."
"I can cut it," Elena said suddenly.
Both Dominic and Marcus looked at her. Her hands were no longer shaking; an odd, razor-sharp focus had taken over her features. She looked Dominic straight in the eye. "My brother was a demolition engineer in Constanța. He taught me the basics of electrical bypasses when we worked the mining camps. Give me your pocketknife."
Dominic didn't hesitate. He flipped his tactical knife around and handed the grip to her. "You have sixty seconds. If you miss, we all burn."
Elena leaned into the dumbwaiter, the sharp smell of duct tape adhesive and fear filling her nostrils. The timer blinked: 00:48. She followed the red and black leads with the tip of the blade. The black lead was coiled loosely around the plastic casing, while the red lead was pulled taut beneath Clara’s shoulder blade.
"Hold her shoulders completely still," Elena ordered Marcus. Marcus grabbed Clara's trembling shoulders, locking them in place with iron strength.
Elena slipped the razor edge of the knife beneath the insulation of the black wire, shaving away the rubber until the copper strands caught the faint red light. With deliberate pressure, she bridged the copper against the steel frame of the dumbwaiter box, grounding the current.
00:22.
"Hold your breath," Elena whispered. She severed the main wire.
The digital timer vanished instantly into blackness. Clara let out a ragged sob and collapsed forward against Marcus’s arms.
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Dominic let out a slow, controlled exhale. He looked down at Elena, who was wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her wrist. "You're no longer just a maid," Dominic said softly.
Before Elena could process his words, the manor’s fire alarms began to wail, and the front gates shattered under the impact of an armored truck ramming through.
