Chapter 2 - THE CHASE THROUGH THE BELLY OF THE BEASTThe alarm went off half a second later—a deafening, rhythmic klaxon that painted the terminal in pulses of harsh red emergency light.
Eli didn't think; his legs took over. He sprinted toward the frosted glass doors of the emergency exit, clutching the heavy school bag against his ribs like a shield. Behind him, the world exploded into absolute chaos.
"He's got a device! Get down! Get down!"
Gunshots cracked through the terminal—sharp, deafening pops that shattered overhead skylights and sent a rain of tiny glass diamonds cascading over the panicked crowds. Eli threw his shoulder into the push-bar of the emergency door and tumbled out onto the tarmac, gasping for freezing morning air.
Planes roared on the nearby runways, their jet engines screaming a deafening accompaniment to his terror.
"Stop right there, kid! Don't move!"
Eli scrambled to his feet, slipping on the wet concrete of the service road, and looked back. A security guard was vaulting through the shattered doorway, pistol drawn, shouting commands that were swallowed by the wind. But it wasn't the security guard that made Eli’s heart stop.
It was Apollo.
The German Shepherd had slipped its harness in the chaos. The massive dog cleared the emergency doors in a single, fluid bound, paws hitting the tarmac with lethal traction. The handler was screaming behind him, but Apollo was a greyhound-fast shadow cutting straight across the open tarmac, locked onto the target.
Eli turned and bolted toward the labyrinth of baggage carts and parked cargo loaders. His lungs burned like they were full of hot coals. The bag on his back felt ten times heavier now, shifting violently with every stride, the mechanical ticking inside growing faster, more frantic—tick-tick-tick-tick—like a trapped insect beating its wings against glass.
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He ducked beneath the conveyor belt of an empty baggage loader just as a heavy body slammed into the metal frame above him.
Apollo skidded past on the wet asphalt, barking curses of pure urgency, spinning around to trap him.
