Chapter 10 - The Digital Bullet
"You're not going to shoot us," Mark said, his voice remarkably steady as he stepped forward.
"Oh?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"
"Because if my heart stops, the dead man's switch activates," Mark lied, staring directly into Arthur's eyes.
Arthur paused, a flicker of doubt crossing his arrogant face.
"I'm a software engineer, Arthur," Mark continued, pressing his advantage. "Did you really think I bought a laptop just to check the weather?"
"He's bluffing," one of the armed men grunted.
"The ledger's contents, along with Evelyn's testimony, are queued on a hidden server," Mark said, ignoring the guard. "Kill me, and it broadcasts to every major news outlet in the country."
Arthur's grip tightened on his cane. He hated variables he couldn't control.
"You wouldn't risk your daughter becoming an orphan," Arthur sneered.
"She has her aunt," Evelyn countered fiercely. "And she'll have the truth."
The distant, deafening horn of a freight train suddenly blasted through the station, shaking the concrete floor.
Mark seized the split second of distraction.
He grabbed an old, heavy fire extinguisher from the wall and hurled it directly at the nearest guard.
The heavy red cylinder smashed into the man's chest, knocking him backward and sending his gun clattering to the floor.
"Run!" Mark yelled, grabbing Evelyn's hand.
They sprinted down a narrow maintenance corridor just as a bullet sparked against the brick wall behind them.
"Don't lose them!" Arthur screamed, his composure finally breaking.
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Mark and Evelyn burst out of a side door into the active rail yard, the massive freight train roaring past them.
They scrambled onto a slow-moving flatbed car, escaping into the night as Arthur's men poured out of the station.
