Silas looked at the cell phone in his hand. His thumb hovered over the call button. "It's a shame, Cade. I always respected you. But you crossed the club. Tell the kid I'm sorry."
Silas pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
There was no explosion. The diner windows remained dark and intact. The only sound was the heavy rain pounding against the asphalt.
Silas frowned. He pressed the button again. Harder this time.
Still nothing.
Cade took a slow step forward, a grim, terrifying smile spreading across his face.
"You should really pay more attention to Rusty's designs, Silas," Cade said, his voice cutting through the storm. "I told you. Rusty is paranoid. He uses a secondary localized radio frequency as a failsafe for the cell trigger. If the main battery is bypassed, the cell phone goes dead."
Silas looked up, his eyes widening in sudden realization. "What did you do?"
"While you were busy watching the camera inside that teddy bear," Cade said, taking another step closer, "I didn't just cut the pressure plate. I stripped the cell-phone battery wire and grounded it to the vest's backboard. Your detonator is a paperweight."
Silas’s face twisted in rage. He dropped the phone and reached for the pistol tucked into his waistband. "Kill him!" he screamed to the men by the van.
Before the men could raise their shotguns, the tree line behind the diner exploded with blinding white light.
High-intensity tactical spotlights pierced the darkness, illuminating the black van like a stage in daylight.
"SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT! DROP YOUR WEAPONS! DROP TO THE GROUND!"
A voice boomed over a megaphone. Through the driving rain, a dozen heavily armed deputies poured out from the shadows of the woods and the rear alleyway of the diner, their rifles raised and lasers painting the chests of Silas and his men.
The two Vipers by the van dropped their shotguns instantly, throwing their hands in the air.
Silas froze, his hand still gripping the handle of his pistol in his waistband. He looked at the laser dots swarming his chest. He looked at Cade, who was standing perfectly still in the rain, looking back at him with cold, dead eyes.
Slowly, Silas released the weapon. He raised his hands, dropping to his knees on the wet asphalt.