Chapter 23
I stared at the blinking red numbers on the monitor.
44:12.
44:11.
"How do we stop it?" I asked, my voice rising in panic.
"You can't stop it from this console," Vance gasped, his voice growing weaker as the blood loss took its toll.
"The override code has to be entered manually into the primary mainframe block."
"Where is the primary block?" Collins asked, stepping forward.
Vance pointed a trembling finger toward a heavy, reinforced glass window at the back of the chamber.
Beyond the glass was a massive, sterile room filled with towering, liquid-cooled towers glowing with a soft blue light.
The door to that room was sealed with a digital keypad that read: RADIATION HAZARD - LEVER 4 ISOLATION.
"The cooling system has already begun to destabilize," Vance explained, coughing weakly.
"The chamber is flooded with nitrogen gas to prevent fire."
"There's no oxygen in there."
"Anyone who walks through that door will suffocate in less than two minutes."
James walked over to the glass window, peering inside.
"We have tactical rebreathers in my vehicle upstairs," James muttered. "But we can't get to them."
I looked around the room, my eyes landing on an old emergency locker mounted to the wall near the blast door.
I ran over to it and yanked the handle open.
Inside were two vintage, heavy-duty military gas masks and a single, yellow oxygen tank from the 1980s.
The pressure gauge on the tank was resting in the yellow zone.
"It’s old," I said, pulling the equipment out. "But it might give me enough time."
"Daniel, no!" Claire screamed, rushing over and grabbing my arm. "You can't go in there! You heard him, there’s no oxygen!"
"Claire, if I don't go in there, that timer hits zero and we all die anyway," I said, grabbing her face in my hands.
"Our son dies."
"I have to do this."
Tears streamed down her face as she looked into my eyes.
"Please," she whispered. "Come back to me."
"Always," I said, kissing her forehead.
I strapped the heavy rubber mask over my face, tightening the canvas straps until they bit into my skin.
I cracked open the valve on the old oxygen tank.
A sharp, mechanical hiss filled my ears as cold, metallic-tasting air flowed into my lungs.
I picked up the silver flash drive Vance had placed on the table earlier.
"What's the code, Vance?" I shouted through the mask, my voice muffled and distorted.
Vance looked up, his eyes glassy.
"The password... your father's old service number," he whispered.
"And Daniel... tell Charles... I'll see him in hell."
With that, his head rolled back, and his eyes went blank.
May you like
The General was dead.
I turned toward the glass chamber door, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
