Chapter 19 - The Fire inside the Tower
The service stairwell between the seventieth and sixty-eighth floors was dark, filled with drifting smoke and the deafening wail of emergency sirens.
Amina, dressed in her white suit, moved with swift, athletic agility behind Captain Knox, who carried a tactical flashlight and heavy wire-cutting tools. They reached the heavy steel door marked 'SERVER ROOM 68-B'.
Knox used his heavy crowbar to pry the steel door open, revealing a room filled with towering rows of humming computer servers and thick bundles of glowing blue fiber-optic cables.
"There!" Knox pointed to a massive central trunk cable, as thick as a man's arm, plugged into the main distribution box. "That’s the main line controlling the building's automated systems and bomb relays! If I cut this, it disarms the remote signal entirely!"
Knox grabbed his heavy pneumatic cable cutters and clamped them around the thick bundle.
BANG!
A heavy gunshot shattered the server room door! The bullet slammed into Knox’s shoulder, sending the security chief crashing to the floor, bleeding heavily!
Frank Malone stepped into the server room through the smoke, holding his assault rifle, his face twisted into a terrifying, sadistic grin!
"Did you really think you could outsmart me, village girl?" Malone sneered, pointing his rifle directly at Amina's chest. "It ends here. I'm going to shoot you, and then I'm going to press this button and watch this whole city burn!"
Amina didn't back down. She stood tall in the dimly lit server room, staring straight into the eyes of the man who had tried to drown her son.
"You're a sad, pathetic coward, Malone," Amina said, her voice dropping into a low, mocking tone. "Marcus promised you ten million dollars, didn't he? Did he tell you that his Swiss crypto accounts were seized by the federal government three hours ago?"
Malone froze, a flash of doubt crossing his cold eyes. "You're lying!"
"Check your phone!" Amina challenged, taking a bold step forward. "Marcus used you as a disposable rat! You're going to blow yourself up for a man who doesn't have a single dollar left to his name!"
Malone’s eyes darted nervously to his phone screen inside his vest. That single second of distraction was all Captain Knox needed!
From the floor, Knox roared, lunging forward and sweeping Malone’s legs out from under him! Malone slammed hard onto the concrete floor, dropping his rifle!
Malone scrambled to grab the red detonator falling from his hand! "DIE!" he screamed, reaching for the button!
Amina didn't hesitate. She grabbed a heavy steel server unit rack from the shelf and smashed it down with all her might right onto Malone’s wrist!
CRACK!
Malone screamed in excruciating pain as his wrist shattered! Amina kicked the red detonator across the floor, straight toward Knox!
Knox grabbed the pneumatic cable cutters with his good arm and clamped them around the primary fiber-optic trunk, snapping the heavy line in two with a loud, metallic CLANG!
The glowing blue lights on the server racks instantly died! The digital bomb relay screens flickered out, displaying a massive green text: SYSTEM DISCONNECTED - EXPLOSIVES NEUTRALIZED!
Malone lay on the floor, holding his broken wrist, sobbing in defeated agony as SWAT team officers burst into the room, pinning him to the floor with heavy boots!
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Knox looked up at Amina, a bloody smile spreading across his face. "Cable cut, ma'am. The building is safe."
Amina sank against the server rack, taking a long, shuddering breath as tears of absolute relief poured down her cheeks. The long, terrifying nightmare was finally over.
