Chapter 25: The Void
Jane’s hand clamped down on the manual override lever. With a violent jerk, she pulled it all the way down, snapping the locking pin.
Red warning lights instantly bathed the sub-station in a hellish glow. Sirens shrieked over the roar of the generators.
"Kill her!" Richard roared, his calm demeanor shattering into genuine panic.
The room erupted in gunfire. Bullets sparked off the metal console, tearing into the machinery around her. Jane felt two distinct impacts—one in her side, one in her abdomen. She collapsed against the control panel, sliding down to the grated metal floor.
The generators began to whine, a high-pitched, deafening sound of impending critical failure. Pipes burst, spraying superheated steam into the room. Richard and his men scrambled backward, abandoning the room as the heavy blast doors automatically slammed shut, sealing off the critical failure zone.
Jane was locked inside.
She lay on her back, staring up at the flashing red lights, her blood pooling rapidly beneath her. The heat in the room was becoming unbearable. The generators were screaming, seconds away from a catastrophic detonation that would consume the tower.
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She was entirely alone. But this time, there was no fear. There was no Elias, no Marcus, no father pulling the strings. She closed her eyes. The sound of the failing turbines sounded almost like Arthur laughing, or perhaps Eleanor singing. She took a shallow, agonizing breath of the superheated air, savoring the absolute, final freedom of it.
She waited for the flash.
