Chapter 4 - The Ticking Box
"Get the hydro-jack!" Adrian roared, his quiet restraint vanishing into an absolute, wild storm of adrenaline. "Bring the power tools down now!"
"Hold on, Adrian! We have the saw!" Mason shouted, pulling a portable gasoline-powered cut-off saw from the SUV trunk, yanking the pull-cord violently.
The engine screamed to life with a deafening, high-pitched roar, blue exhaust smoke filling the narrow concrete stairwell. Mason set the diamond-tipped blade against the exposed deadbolt cylinder inside the door gap.
Sparks rained down in a blinding white cascade against the wet concrete walls.
Adrian didn't step back. He stood two inches from the cutting blade, hot sparks bouncing off his wool coat and his bare cheeks, his eyes glued to the widening gap.
"Evelyn! Move away from the door!" Adrian yelled over the roar of the saw. "Do you hear me?! Step back!"
"I... I can't move, Adrian..." her fragile voice whispered back through the smoke and noise. "My... my hands..."
The blade cut through the hardened steel core of the bolt with a final, screeching THUD.
The deadbolt snapped in half.
Adrian jammed his hands directly into the jagged, hot metal edge of the door, ignoring the sharp edges that sliced into his leather gloves, and pulled with his entire body.
BANG.
The heavy steel door swung inward, slamming against the dark concrete wall inside.
A wave of cold, damp air smelling of stagnant water, mold, and old electricity poured out of the dark room into the stairwell.
Adrian stepped over the high threshold, pulling a heavy tactical flashlight from Mason’s belt, casting a powerful beam of white light across the subterranean gloom.
The basement room was forty feet long, with a low ceiling supported by iron pillars. The floor was rough, damp concrete covered in a layer of fine black dust.
In the center of the room, sitting on the cold floor with her back resting against a thick support pillar, was Evelyn Hart.
Her dark brown hair was loose, matted with sweat and dirt across her face. She wore the plain dark trousers and cream silk blouse she had worn to work two days ago, but the blouse was torn at the shoulder, stained with grimy water and blood. Her wrists were pulled behind her back, bound tightly to an iron pipe with thick, industrial plastic zip-ties that had cut into her skin, leaving dark red bands around her delicate wrists.
"Evelyn!" Adrian dropped to his knees in front of her, his hands reaching out to grab her shoulders, his tactical light illuminating her pale, hollow face.
She looked up at him through swollen, tear-stained eyelids. Her lips were cracked, her skin gray from cold and dehydration, her entire body shaking in violent, uncontrollable spasms.
Beside her on the floor, sitting three inches from her right knee, was a heavy, grey plastic pelican case attached to an array of copper wires that ran up the support pillar into the dark ceiling rafters.
Mounted to the top of the grey plastic box was a bright, red LED digital display screen.
The red numbers were blinking rhythmically in the dark, counting down with cold, clinical precision:
03:17
03:16
03:15
Adrian’s entire frame went motionlessly still.
Behind him, Mason stepped through the doorway, his weapon raised, but as his eyes landed on the red display screen, he froze instantly. "What the hell is that?"
Evelyn raised her head slightly, her hazel eyes locking onto Adrian’s pale face. Her voice was a cracked, breathless rascal whisper that barely carried across the quiet concrete room.
"Don't... don't touch me, Adrian," she gasped, tears welling in her eyes and cutting clean tracks through the dirt on her cheeks.
Adrian stared at her, his hands hovering an inch above her arms. "Evelyn... what are you talking about? I'm getting you out of here."
"No..." she wept softly, her breath coming in short, agonizing hitches. "Don't touch me... please..."
"Why?" Adrian demanded, his voice trembling with a terrifying mix of grief and panic.
She looked down at the blinking red numbers on the box beside her knee.
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03:02
"Because..." Evelyn whispered, her chin trembling as she looked into his eyes, "they told me what would happen if you came."
