Chapter 11 - THE DEAD MAN’S SWITCH
“If I can’t own Bennett Industries…”
Daniel looked down at the city.
“No one will.”
The alarms screamed louder.
Red emergency lights flashed across the boardroom, turning every face into a mask of panic.
Board members shoved back their chairs.
Someone dropped a phone.
Another man ran for the main doors and found them locked.
Claire never took her eyes off Daniel.
“What did you do?”
He held the remote loosely in one hand.
“Insurance.”
Ortiz moved toward him.
“Put it down.”
Daniel smiled.
“You shoot me, the signal drops.”
Ortiz stopped.
“A dead man’s switch?”
“You do understand something after all.”
Edward rushed to the security terminal.
The screen showed evacuation warnings on every floor.
“Can the system tell us where the device is?”
A technician at the end of the table typed rapidly.
“No. The building network is locked.”
Julian Cross stared at Daniel.
“You built explosives into a tower full of employees?”
Daniel looked at his father with open contempt.
“You taught men to build systems no one could escape.”
“I built protection.”
“You built power.”
Daniel stepped closer to the glass wall.
“Don’t pretend we’re different.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“We are nothing alike.”
Daniel laughed.
“You vanished and watched me become this.”
“My disappearance was not a choice.”
“It became one.”
Claire watched the exchange.
For years, Daniel had blamed every cruelty on betrayal.
His mother.
His father.
James.
Claire.
Anyone but himself.
She moved closer.
“Where is the bomb?”
Daniel turned toward her.
“You still think this is a negotiation.”
“There are hundreds of people in this building.”
“Most of them would have replaced me by morning.”
“They have children.”
“So do I.”
Claire’s voice dropped.
“No. You have two children you terrorized.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“They are mine.”
“Eli is not.”
“Sophie is.”
“She is not your property.”
Daniel tightened his grip on the remote.
Claire saw it.
A flicker of rage.
A weakness.
He needed control more than he needed escape.
She looked toward Ortiz.
The agent understood.
Keep him talking.
“Did you bring Sophie here?” Claire asked.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“She belongs with me.”
“Then why did you send men to shoot at the clinic where her brother was being treated?”
“I never ordered anyone to shoot Sophie.”
“You sent armed men.”
“They were instructed to retrieve evidence.”
“They fired into a medical building.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“They exceeded their authority.”
Julian shook his head.
“That is what cowards say when their servants are caught.”
Daniel snapped toward him.
“You don’t get to judge me.”
“I am the reason you exist.”
“No. You are the reason I spent my life proving I deserved a name that was never mine.”
The technician looked up from the terminal.
“I found something.”
Daniel turned.
Ortiz moved instantly, but Daniel lifted the remote higher.
“Stay where you are.”
The technician swallowed.
“The system shows three unauthorized circuits.”
“Locations?” Edward asked.
“Lower foundation, mechanical floor, and rooftop generator.”
Claire’s heart sank.
“Three bombs?”
The technician shook his head.
“Maybe three triggers. I can’t tell.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“Good luck guessing.”
Ortiz spoke into her radio.
“Bomb squad to floors one, thirty-eight, and rooftop. Evacuate through stairwells immediately.”
Only static answered.
“The internal radios are jammed,” she said.
Edward pointed toward the emergency phone on the wall.
“Hard line.”
The technician grabbed it.
Dead.
Julian looked at the board members.
“Use the service stairwell.”
The chairman pulled at the side door.
Locked.
Daniel had sealed the room remotely.
Claire looked around.
Fifty floors above the street.
Glass walls.
No open windows.
One locked main entrance.
One locked service door.
A boardroom full of terrified people.
Daniel had trapped them exactly as he had trapped Eli.
Claire looked at him.
“You like locked rooms.”
His eyes flicked toward her.
“Excuse me?”
“You locked a baby beneath my house.”
“I kept him contained.”
“You locked my mother in a facility.”
“I protected the company.”
“You locked James in a private prison.”
“He was dangerous.”
“And now you’ve locked us here.”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
Claire stepped closer.
“You keep building cages because you’re terrified of what happens when people are free to speak.”
Daniel lifted the remote.
“One more step.”
Claire stopped.
But her words had landed.
His breathing had changed.
Behind him, rain streaked the glass wall.
Far below, the streets filled with emergency vehicles.
Claire saw helicopters circling the tower.
Daniel saw them too.
“You won’t leave this building,” Ortiz said.
“I don’t need to.”
“You plan to die here?”
Daniel smiled.
“I plan to be remembered.”
Julian stared at his son.
“You will be remembered as a frightened thief.”
Daniel spun toward him.
That was the opening.
Ortiz lunged.
Daniel pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
For one second, no one moved.
Daniel looked at the remote.
Then pressed it again.
Still nothing.
Edward stared toward the security terminal.
The technician held up a severed cable.
“I disabled the transmitter.”
Daniel’s face went blank.
Ortiz tackled him.
The remote flew across the floor.
Board members screamed and scattered.
Daniel struck Ortiz in the face and reached inside his coat.
James burst through the service door at that exact moment.
He had broken the lock from outside.
“Daniel!”
Daniel pulled a handgun.
James froze.
Claire stepped between them.
“Don’t.”
Daniel aimed at her.
“Move.”
“No.”
James’s voice became low.
“Claire, step aside.”
She did not.
Daniel’s hand shook.
Not much.
Just enough for her to see he was no longer the controlled man from the wedding photographs or charity galas.
He was cornered.
Exposed.
Ordinary.
“You won’t shoot me,” Claire said.
Daniel’s eyes looked almost hurt.
“You never knew me.”
“No. I knew the person you pretended to be.”
“I gave you everything.”
“You stole everything first.”
“I gave you a name.”
“I already had one.”
“I gave you Sophie.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“You used her to control me.”
“I loved her.”
“You taught her to fear losing me.”
Daniel looked toward the open service door.
Sophie stood there beside James.
She had followed him upstairs.
Her face was pale.
Her eyes were fixed on the gun in her father’s hand.
“Dad?”
Daniel froze.
James moved in front of her.
Sophie looked around him.
“Are you going to hurt Mom?”
Daniel lowered the weapon slightly.
“No.”
“Then put it down.”
“Sophie, come here.”
She shook her head.
Daniel’s voice softened.
“I’m your father.”
“You lied about Eli.”
“It was complicated.”
“You said Mom was crazy.”
“She was confused.”
“You said you were saving me.”
“I was.”
Sophie’s eyes filled with tears.
“From what?”
Daniel had no answer.
She continued.
“Mom came back for me after the helicopter crashed.”
Claire’s heart tightened.
Sophie looked at Daniel.
“You keep leaving people.”
Daniel’s expression cracked.
For one second, Claire saw the abandoned boy inside him.
Then it vanished beneath anger.
“You don’t understand what I sacrificed.”
Sophie stepped behind James.
“I don’t want to.”
Daniel raised the gun again.
This time, not at Claire.
At James.
“You took everything from me.”
James did not move.
“I didn’t take your life. You built it.”
Daniel fired.
Claire screamed.
James dropped.
The bullet struck his upper chest.
Ortiz lunged again.
Daniel shoved her aside and ran through the service door.
Claire fell beside James.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Sophie sank to her knees.
“James?”
His eyes remained open.
He struggled to breathe.
Claire pressed both hands over the wound.
“Stay with me.”
He looked toward Sophie.
“Don’t let her see.”
“She already did.”
James almost smiled.
“Always stubborn.”
Claire shouted toward Ortiz.
“Get help!”
Ortiz spoke into her radio as she chased Daniel.
The technician looked at the security screen.
“He’s heading toward the roof.”
Julian picked up Daniel’s gun.
Edward stopped him.
“No.”
“He shot my son.”
“And you won’t save him by becoming Daniel.”
Julian’s hand shook.
Then he lowered the weapon.
James gripped Claire’s wrist.
“Eli.”
“He’s safe.”
“Tell him…”
“You’ll tell him yourself.”
James closed his eyes.
“Claire.”
“No.”
“If I don’t—”
“You do not get to disappear again.”
His eyes opened.
She leaned closer.
“You promised.”
James tried to breathe through the pain.
Then the building shook.
A deep explosion thundered beneath them.
The floor jolted.
Lights flickered.
The technician stared at the monitors.
“The foundation device activated.”
Daniel’s remote had failed.
But one of the bombs had not.
A crack raced across the glass wall.
May you like
And far below, the entire tower began to lean.
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