hotmtlnovel Chapter 216 In a trap
Chapter 216 In a trap
'Where does that sound come from?' Tristan thought in alarm.
The clutter made it harder to distinguish the origins of it. There were at least half a dozen dynamics, all of them hidden from the direct eye.
Cutout already had a gun in one hand and a knife in another, but there was no one to attack.
"Cutout, this is a sound trap! Quickly, close your ears!" Tristan ordered.
His subordinate fumbled with his weapons to obey, but the sound from the dynamics rose in volume in response. It blasted Tristan and Cutout's ears, even through the palms they put over them.
"Pathetic! This won't work, Tristan Hayes. And you, 'Cutout'—is Hayes really such a good leader, you poor man? How often did he send you to take bullets in his stead? There will be another one soon. Lay down your weapons! Surrender! Give up! Leave alive!"
The words carried with themselves a weight of great authority. It was something Tristan felt almost physically pushing him down. The words were spoken with infliction of someone who spoke The Law; and the brief speech itself had an unnaturally compelling quality to it.
It was a voice that could make a person obey even the most strange or suicidal order. It was a voice that could make a soldier go into a suicidal attack, or an enemy drop their weapons.
The palms did little to muffle the infernal level of the sound, and nothing to block the words from reaching Tristan's mind.
It became hard for him to think about what he was doing before. His body, bypassing his conscious mind, wanted to put Tristan's weapons on the floor and kneel.
'No! This is Michael's trap. The entire setup with the camera... For how long he had been watching and waiting for us to appear?' Tristan thought through the weight of hostile authority. 'And he knows about me, too! How much?'
Despite the racing thoughts in his head, Tristan couldn't move from his spot. It was too much. All he could do was to appear calm, despite feeling zero calm at all.
But it was just an act, and this wasn't a situation where he could fake until he made it.
Next to Tristan, Cutout fell to his knees. His hands were still clutching his ears.
Michael didn't stop talking for a moment, repeating his words over and over like a chant. But after a short while, the content of this chant changed.
But his finger wasn't on the trigger.
'This isn't enough—but I know what will be!' Tristan thought. The realizations came to him easier now that his brain was only blasted with sound at 70% of previous volume.
"Hold on, Cutout!" Tristan shouted. "Listen only to me! We have to turn off the dynamics!"
Tristan's trained voice easily carried even through the volume of several dynamics remaining. The hypnotic quality of it clashed with the oppressive authority of Michael's voice, negating it for a second.
The effect was like two large waves crashing together to turn each other into messy ripples on the water.
It was all Tristan needed to breathe with full chest again.
"Unplug the dynamics, Cutout!" Tristan repeated. "Don't stop listening to me!"
"Yes, boss!" Cutout shouted, immediately obeying.
He went to dig into the piles of clutter, while Tristan went straight for the camera that was watching them.
'If I want to track Ass-Angel, I have to do it before he cuts off the connection and gets out of here again,' Tristan thought.
In his backpack was a set of tools—he quickly pulled them out and reached for the camera. It was modern enough to have a wireless Internet connection, although it was installed with cables.
Tristan kept loudly talking to Cutout, although his mind wasn't on his words at all. With the back of his head, he could sense that Cutout wasn't looking (or aiming) at him, which was enough.
He got his phone and began hacking Michael's camera, ignoring the pressure of its gaze.
Tristan also ignored everything Michael was chanting at him and Cutout—until he heard his full name again.
"TRISTAN HAYES! Stop this—stop this, or your family won't see the end of the week alive!"