Chapter 17 - The Submerged Fortress
An auxiliary pressure lock engaged, and the water level within the rusted chamber suddenly began to drop as an automated bilge drain roared to life.
Daniel pulled his sidearm, standing on the slick, rusted metal deck, sheltering Lily behind his back as the floor beneath them shuddered and lowered like a mechanical elevator into the subterranean depths of Platform Tartarus.
When the air pressure equalized with a sharp hiss, the steel bulkhead slid open.
Standing in the sterile, fluorescent-lit corridor wasn't an army of mercenaries. It was a woman in a lab coat, her face gaunt, her raven hair streaked with silver, her dark eyes wide with utter shock.
"Claire?" Daniel breathed, his heart stopping completely.
The woman dropped the medical tablet she was holding. It clattered against the perforated steel floor. Tears welled in her eyes, her lips parting in disbelief.
"Daniel... Lily?" Claire choked out, collapsing to her knees, reaching out trembling, bruised hands.
"Mommy!" Lily cried out, tearing herself from Daniel's grip and throwing her little arms around her mother’s neck.
Daniel stood paralyzed, the world spinning in surreal disarray. For an entire year, he had mourned her. He had endured Victoria's manipulation, Tom Hayes's deceit, the horror of nearly losing their daughter to the sea.
"How?" Daniel’s voice cracked, tears finally spilling down his weathered face as he knelt beside them, wrapping his arms around both his wife and daughter. "Claire... Hayes told me you drowned. We found your boat shattered in the Atlantic."
Claire clutched him desperately, her body trembling with visceral fear. "It wasn't an accident, Daniel. Tom Hayes and the board framed my suicide. They dragged me down here because my encryption codes control the entire Mercer Global shell network. They threatened to kill both you and Lily if I didn't decrypt the accounts."
"They tried to kill Lily tonight, Claire," Daniel said, his voice hardening like obsidian steel. "Hayes is up on the surface right now with a warship."
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Claire’s eyes widened with sheer horror. "Then we don't have time. Hayes didn't come to recover the data. He came to purge the site."
***
