The Man Leaving the ER Was Not the One They Wanted

The footsteps outside were not from one person. At least six. Elias looked up at the ventilation shaft, then down at the control cabinet. Trevor Hale had just finished saying, “We wanted a story the whole country would believe,” when someone started kicking the door from the hallway. The metal kept thudding inward like a countdown. “Back entrance,” Grace said through the door crack. “They’re coming down the fire stairs.” Elias didn’t hesitate. He jammed his flashlight into his pocket, tore open the emergency cable casing on the wall, and exposed a length of thick copper wire. With his utility knife he stripped the insulation and wrapped the wire hard around a steel frame, then fed the other end into the trigger box he had just opened.