Scott immediately issued orders, leaning against the car window and saying, “You can’t go in. There’s a gasoline leak in the car. It might explode before the bomb does!”
Dexter knelt in front of Josie, ignoring everything else, and focused solely on checking the timer on the bomb beneath them.
Josie froze, seeing his hands covered in blood from the shattered window glass. The man appeared completely indifferent, furrowing his brow at the bomb. Several wires of different colors were intertwined. Cutting the right one might prevent the bomb from exploding.
Josie trembled. “Dexter, stop looking. Just leave. It doesn’t matter if I die. You are the backbone of the Russell Group. It can’t afford to lose you!”
Her words were jumbled but surprisingly insightful. She dared not move. Dexter finally glanced at her with a hint of helplessness. “If I leave, you’ll be entangled with Arnold again.”
Josie was on the verge of tears. “It’s really not my fault. He kidnapped me, and there’s also Mallory. What can I do?”
The police quickly found scissors and handed them over. Dexter swiftly took them. At this point, there were only four minutes left until the bomb exploded.
The handcuffs were specially made, and ordinary scissors couldn’t cut them. Dexter clenched the tool. Suddenly, he looked at the woman whose lips had turned pale with fear.
“I want to give it a try.”
Josie was stunned but quickly understood what he meant. Outside, Scott was already in a panic. “What? Trying will cause it to explode! Both of you will die if that happens!”
After he finished speaking, he yelled at his colleagues, “Where are the experts? Hurry up!”
Dexter was half-kneeling. There was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, but he remained calm. “There’s no time left. We only have three and a half minutes.”
“There are only three wires here-red, blue, and white. The odds of finding the one to disarm the device are not bad, so I want to give it a try.”
Scott took a sharp breath, knowing there was no other way. Josie dared not breathe. She slowly nodded, “I-I guess I can only trust you now.”
He slightly bent over, hands reaching in. His voice was barely audible. “When I was studying abroad, Old Mr. Russell didn’t give me living expenses to toughen me up. Guess what I did?”
Dexter’s voice had a calming effect. Josie tried to calm down. “What did you do?”
“I used the money I had saved over the years as the entrance fee to the largest local casino. I won a year’s worth of living expenses by cheating.”
Josie found that amusing. This was Dexter’s style.
“When I was leaving, they found out. To punish me, they strapped me to a chair with a bomb and made me find the wire to disarm it. If I succeeded, they would let me go.”
The thrill was in the excitement.
“There were ten wires at that time.”
“And then?”
“Of course, I succeeded. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have met me today.” Dexter smiled, his eyes filled with reassurance. Josie wiped away her tears, breaking into laughter. What a madman.
Dexter placed the scissors on one of the wires but didn’t cut it. “Even if it fails, it doesn’t matter. I’ll accompany you in death.”
He didn’t leave himself an escape route. Once the bomb detonated, both of them would die, leaving no survivors. Josie looked into his eyes, feeling a mix of bitterness and sweetness. These minutes could very well be the last minutes they lived.
“Dexter,” she slowly said, “from childhood to now, my world has always been pure and white. It’s meeting you that made my life chaotic. I’ve always listened to you. This time, can you listen to me?”
Tears slowly welled up in her eyes, blurring her vision.
“Choose the white wire.”
