The Prison-Made Queen novel Chapter 932

Callahan listened to Leilani's logical breakdown, his tense features relaxing a fraction. The whole point of this operation was getting that antidote. They thought they'd lost their chance when the mastermind vanished, but somehow, they had stumbled right into their prize. Whether it was a trap or a lucky break didn't matter right now—they had what they came for.

He turned to Bason. "You found this, and you know how to handle high-risk transport. I'm putting you in charge of keeping it safe."

"You got it, Boss," Bason replied, securing the lid. "It's safe with me."

Callahan cast one last, sweeping glance across the eerie, desolate floor. "We can't stay here. Given that guy's track record, there's no way he didn't leave a failsafe. We stick to the extraction route. Let's move."

His sharp gaze flicked back to the silver box. "As for our masked friend... we'll be seeing him again. And when we do, we'll drag every last secret out of him."

Bason tucked the box safely away. Callahan signaled for the team to move out.

But just as he took a step, a sound caught his ear. He froze, his hand shooting up. "Hold up! Nobody move. Total silence."

The team froze in their tracks, holding their breath. The room fell deathly quiet, save for the distant hum of city traffic outside. Callahan tilted his head, his sharp eyes cutting through the gloom like spotlights.

Tick... tick...

It was incredibly faint, but the deadly rhythm was undeniable. It was coming from the shadows of a load-bearing wall just behind them. Hidden against the grime and dust was a device no larger than a hand, a glowing red digital timer ticking down. Had it not been for the rhythmic sound and the faint LED glow, it would have been invisible.

Callahan bolted toward the wall, skidding to a halt a few feet away to assess it. It didn't look overly complex, but the numbers were unforgiving: 2:39... 2:38...

"Son of a bitch! He never planned on letting us walk out of here," Abel ground out, his knuckles popping. "He left the box to keep us busy and run down the clock!"

Leilani hurried over, staying slightly behind Callahan at a safe distance. She tried to keep her voice steady, but the rapid clip of her words betrayed her panic. "Shaun, get up here! Can you defuse it?"

With less than three minutes on the clock, running was out of the question. Defusing it was their only play.

Shaun Keane pushed forward, his brow furrowed in heavy concentration as his eyes traced the wiring and the mounting mechanism. "The explosive structure is straightforward, but... he rigged it with an anti-tamper switch."