When the Devil Learned to Love

Episode 12: The Kill Switch

“GET OUT! GET OUT OF THE TRUCK NOW!”

The guard outside the window was screaming. The barrel of his assault rifle tapped against the glass, right in front of Aarav’s face.

The red emergency lights washed the cabin in the color of blood. The siren was so loud my teeth hurt.

"Aarav," I whispered, gripping the dashboard. "What do we do?"

Aarav didn't look at the guard. He looked at me. His face was calm. Terrifyingly calm.

"Put your head down," he said. "And hold on."

"What?"

Aarav grabbed the gear stick. He didn't open the door. He slammed the massive truck into REVERSE.

He stomped on the gas pedal.

The engine roared like a dying dragon. The truck lurched backward.

CRUNCH.

We rolled right over the patrol car parked behind us. Metal screamed as it was flattened. The guard at the window jumped back, falling to the ground.

"Hold on!" Aarav yelled.

He shifted into DRIVE. He spun the wheel hard to the left.

We weren't aiming for the locked gate. We were aiming for the building.

"Aarav, that's a wall!" I screamed.

"It's a garage door!" he shouted back. "Aluminum! We'll go right through!"

I buried my face in my knees and covered my head.

BAM!

The impact threw me forward against the seatbelt. The windshield shattered into a million diamonds. The sound of tearing metal was deafening.

Then, suddenly, we were inside.

The truck skidded across the concrete floor of the warehouse, knocking over stacks of boxes and pallets. It finally slammed into a concrete pillar and stopped. Smoke hissed from the engine.

"Move!" Aarav unbuckled his seatbelt. "Out! Now!"

He kicked his door open. I scrambled out of my side, my boots slipping on spilled oil.

We hit the floor running.

Behind us, guards were pouring through the hole we had just made in the wall.

POP. POP. POP.

Gunfire.

Bullets sparked against the concrete floor near my feet.

"This way!" Aarav grabbed my hand and pulled me behind a wall of heavy crates.

We sprinted through the maze of the warehouse. It was dark, lit only by the flashing red strobes. It felt like running through a nightmare.

We reached a narrow maintenance hallway and ducked inside. Aarav slammed the heavy steel door and spun the wheel to lock it.

He leaned against the door, breathing hard. There was a cut on his forehead, bleeding into his eye.

"Are you hit?" he asked, grabbing my shoulders. He scanned me frantically.

"No," I gasped. "I'm okay. But we're trapped inside, Aarav! With fifty men!"

"We're not trapped with them," Aarav said, wiping the blood from his eye. He pulled his pistol out. "They're trapped with us."

"ATTENTION."

A voice boomed over the loudspeakers. It echoed through the metal hallway.

It was Viktor.

"Aarav... my boy. I must say, I am impressed. Most dead men stay dead. But you always did have to be the center of attention."

We froze.

"I know you are in the North Corridor," Viktor continued. His voice was smooth, like poisoned honey. "And I know you have the girl. Ms. Kael. The little librarian."

I shivered. He knew.

"You can't stop the launch, Aarav," Viktor said. "The trucks are already rolling. But since you are here... let's play a game. I am going to release the gas into the ventilation system. Just a little bit. To flush out the rats."

My eyes widened. "He's gassing the building?"

"He doesn't care about his own men," Aarav said. "He'll kill everyone just to get us."

Aarav pulled out the crumpled blueprints from his pocket. His hands were steady now.

"Okay," he said. "We have two problems. One: the antenna on the roof is sending the signal to the delivery trucks. If we don't cut it, the trucks will detonate in the city. Two: the ventilation system is in the basement. If we don't shut it off, we die in ten minutes."

He looked at me. The silence stretched between us.

"We have to split up," I whispered.

Aarav closed his eyes. He hated it. I could see it in his face. He wanted to keep me close. He wanted to protect me.

"I can't be in two places," he admitted. "I have to go to the roof. The guards will be heavy there. I can handle them."

"Then I'll go to the basement," I said. "I know how to shut down a boiler system. I saw the schematics."

Aarav grabbed the back of my neck. He pulled me close. Our foreheads touched.

"If you see anyone," he whispered fiercely, "you do not hesitate. You shoot. You survive. Do you understand?"

"I understand," I said.

"Meet me in the lobby," he said. "When it's done."

He kissed me. It was hard and fast. A kiss of war.

"Go," he said.

He turned and ran toward the stairwell.

I took a deep breath. I gripped the heavy pistol in my hand.

I turned and ran toward the darkness of the basement.

THE BASEMENT.

It was hot down here. The air hissed with steam. Pipes lined the walls like metal snakes.

I moved slowly. My boots made soft squishing sounds on the wet floor.

I needed to find the main intake valve. If I closed it, the gas couldn't spread.

I saw it. A large red wheel at the end of the room.

I ran toward it.

"Going somewhere, sweetie?"

I stopped. My heart slammed against my ribs.

A figure stepped out from behind a pillar.

It was the mercenary. The one from the loading dock. The one with the scar.

He was smiling. He held a combat knife in his hand.

"I knew you were trouble," he said. "No woman looks that good in a work shirt."

He stepped closer.

I raised the gun. My hands were shaking.

"Stay back!" I yelled.

"You won't shoot," he laughed. "You're just a girl. Look at you shaking."

He lunged.

I pulled the trigger.

CLICK.

Nothing happened. The safety? No, I took it off. A jam?

Panic exploded in my chest.

The mercenary knocked the gun out of my hand. It skittered across the floor.

He grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against the wall. My head cracked against the concrete. Stars exploded in my vision.

"Now," he whispered, bringing the knife up. "Let's see you bleed."

I couldn't breathe. His hand was crushing my windpipe.

I kicked him, scratched at his face, but he was too strong.

My hand flailed out, searching for anything. My fingers brushed against a hot metal pipe running along the wall.

A steam valve.

I grabbed the small wheel. I didn't try to push him away. I twisted the wheel with every ounce of strength I had left.

HISSSSSSS!

A jet of scalding hot steam exploded from the pipe—right into his face.

"AAAAHHH!"

He screamed. He dropped me. He stumbled back, clutching his face, his skin red and blistering.

I fell to the floor, gasping for air.

I saw the gun. It was five feet away.

I crawled. My lungs burned.

The mercenary was blindly swinging his knife. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

I grabbed the gun. I racked the slide back, clearing the jammed bullet.

I rolled onto my back.

He heard me. He turned, his eyes red and watery, the knife raised high.

I didn't hesitate. I didn't think.

I aimed for the center of his chest.

BANG.

The sound was louder than anything I had ever heard.

The mercenary stopped. He looked down at his chest. A red flower was blooming on his shirt.

He looked at me, surprised.

Then he fell. He hit the floor with a heavy thud and didn't move.

I lay there for a second, the gun still raised. Smoke curled from the barrel.

I had killed him.

I waited for the guilt. I waited to feel sick.

But I didn't feel sick. I felt alive.

I stood up. My legs were steady.

I walked over to the main ventilation wheel. I grabbed it and spun it tight until it locked.

The hissing stopped. The gas was contained.

I grabbed my radio.

"Aarav," I said. "The basement is clear. Gas is off."

Silence.

"Aarav?"

Static.

I ran to the security terminal on the wall. I hacked into the camera feed.

I brought up the ROOF CAM.

My blood ran cold.

Aarav was there. He was on his knees near the satellite dish. He was surrounded by three unconscious guards. He was bleeding from a wound in his shoulder. He had done it. He had smashed the dish.

But he didn't see what was behind him.

The door to the roof opened.

Viktor walked out. He was holding a silver revolver.

He walked up behind Aarav. He raised the gun to the back of Aarav’s head.

"NO!" I screamed at the screen. "AARAV, TURN AROUND!"

But the radio was dead. He couldn't hear me.

Viktor c****d the hammer.

I didn't think. I didn't plan.

I ran for the stairs.

I had to get to the roof. I had to run eighty floors in two minutes.

Or the Devil was going to die.