Chapter 7 - Four Minutes to Breathe
“Everybody back!” the worker shouted.
The firefighter raised a hand to stop the team. Mara radioed for the bomb squad, but the dispatcher said the nearest unit was twenty minutes away.
The red light kept blinking.
Elena crouched at a safe distance and squinted past the worker. “That's not a bomb timer. It's an overload warning on the old motor controls.”
“Are you sure?” Mara asked.
“No. That's why nobody should touch it.”
The worker began to cry. “They told me the stairs would blow if I moved.”
Roman looked at the chain. “What's your name?”
“Jalen Price.”
“Jalen, listen to me. You don't have to prove anything. Tell us what you can see.”
“Two switches. A green one and a red one. Both wired to the chain.”
Elena checked the blueprint again. “The red lamp reports a motor trip. The switches could still be a trap.”
Mara called the fire captain forward. They had a rescue line and insulated tools, but no safe way to reach Jalen without inspecting the wiring. The captain refused to gamble with a man's life.
“There's another way,” Elena said. “A ventilation opening at the riverbank. It meets the stairwell below his landing.”
Roman pointed toward a concrete culvert partly swallowed by reeds.
“I know that vent. My brother and I got caught exploring it when we were kids.”
“You have a brother?” Elena asked.
“Had. Danny drowned at this river when he was eleven.”
He said it without drama. It was a fact he'd carried so long it had worn a groove through him.
Firefighters opened the culvert and crawled in with breathing gear. Their voices echoed through the radio until one announced, “Visual on the worker. There's no explosive charge. It's a control wire wrapped around the chain.”
Roman saw Elena's shoulders drop an inch.
Jalen was lifted out at 8:53. His first words were not about himself.
“Five others are down there. They kept us alive because they needed our signatures.”
“On what?” Mara asked.
“Delivery records. They stole flood-relief equipment and sold it overseas. We caught them. Victor said he could make us disappear without leaving the property.”
A deep boom shook the riverbank.
May you like
Water surged against the retaining wall, rising fast.
Jalen looked at the pump house and screamed, “That's the first gate. He's opening them early!”
