Chapter 5 - The Silent Siege
The ultimatum hung in the air, heavy and lethal.
Maya looked at the video screen showing her living sister frozen in glass. Then she looked down at Ethan, who was looking up at her with pure, unadulterated trust.
"You don't have to choose, Maya," Dante gasped from the floor, blood trickling from his lip. "The sub-level power... is connected to the master override drive in your hand!"
Langleyâs eyes narrowed. "Kill him," he ordered the guard on his right.
BANG.
Danteâs body went limp as a suppressed round struck his chest.
"NO!" Maya screamed.
In that fraction of a second when the guards turned their weapons on Dante, Maya threw the heavy steel fire extinguisher directly at Langleyâs head. It struck him square in the face, smashing his glasses and knocking him violently onto his back.
"RUN!" Maya yelled, grabbing Ethanâs hand.
She slammed the heavy, bulletproof mahogany door shut behind them and threw the manual deadbolt. Outside, automatic gunfire began tearing into the heavy wood.
Maya didn't run toward the river exit. She ran toward the basement stairs.
"Maya, where are we going?" Ethan cried, his small legs pumping to keep up.
"We are saving my sister," Maya snapped, her eyes burning with a fierce, unstoppable fury. "And then we are burning this nightmare to the ground!"
She plunged down into the deep, high-tech basement quarters. The air grew colder, smelling of ozone and liquid nitrogen. Using Danteâs master flash drive, she bypassed the heavy security doors of the central lab.
There, in the center of a pristine, white-tiled room, stood the massive cryo-pod.
Maya ran to the control terminal, slamming the flash drive into the main port. The computer screen flashed green: MASTER OVERRIDE ACCEPTED. INITIATING THAW SEQUENCE.
Hissing steam released from the pod valves. The fluid level inside the glass cylinder began to drop rapidly.
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"Maya?" a weak, distorted voice came from behind the glass.
Maya pressed her hands against the glass, weeping. "Elena! I'm here! I'm here!"
