CHAPTER 10 — THE BURNING ESTATE
Chief Reed shoved Emily toward the yacht.
Charles reached for her.
Instead, Reed turned and fired at the guard beside Anna.
The man collapsed.
“Now!”
Evelyn activated the jammer.
Anna’s explosive collar stopped flashing.
Daniel fired at Charles.
The bullet struck the railing inches from his shoulder.
Mara shot the second guard.
Rebecca ran toward Anna.
Emily dropped behind a stone column.
Chaos erupted across the underground dock.
Reed tackled Charles against the yacht’s control panel.
Vivian screamed and reached for the red folder.
Mara intercepted her.
Vivian swung a metal case at Mara’s head.
Mara ducked and drove her shoulder into Vivian’s chest.
Both women crashed onto the deck.
Daniel climbed aboard.
He grabbed Charles and pulled him away from Reed.
Charles struck Daniel’s injured ribs.
Daniel barely reacted.
He slammed Charles into the cabin wall.
“You touched my daughter.”
Charles smiled through bloody teeth.
“And I would do it again.”
Daniel hit him.
Once.
Hard enough to send him across the deck.
The jammer began beeping.
“Two seconds!” Evelyn shouted.
Rebecca tore at the collar around Anna’s neck.
The light turned red again.
One second.
Mara grabbed the collar and threw both herself and Anna into the water.
The explosive detonated beneath the surface.
Water and fire burst upward.
“Mara!” Daniel rushed toward the edge.
For several seconds, no one surfaced.
Then Mara emerged, dragging Anna with her.
Daniel pulled them onto the dock.
Mara’s left arm was burned.
Anna was unconscious but breathing.
A deep alarm sounded throughout the estate.
Vivian stopped struggling.
“What did you activate?” she shouted at Charles.
Charles climbed to his feet.
“I didn’t.”
A mechanical voice came through the speakers.
STRUCTURAL PURGE INITIATED.
Rebecca stared toward the ceiling.
“The cliff charges.”
Daniel looked at her.
“The estate is wired to collapse?”
“The Whitmores built the purge system during the Cold War. If the lower archive was ever compromised, the house and tunnels would be dropped into the ocean.”
A timer appeared on the yacht’s navigation screen.
08:00
Eight minutes.
Smoke poured into the dock tunnel.
The upper mansion was already burning.
Guests flooded across the lawn toward the gates.
But the gates remained locked.
Daniel turned toward Evelyn.
“Open them.”
“The control room is on the third floor.”
Emily looked at the staircase leading into the burning mansion.
“There are children up there.”
Daniel handed Charles to Reed.
“Watch him.”
Reed pressed a pistol against Charles’s back.
“Gladly.”
Daniel ran toward the mansion.
Emily followed.
“Stay here!”
“I know the house.”
“You’re injured.”
“So are you.”
Mara stepped beside them.
“I’m coming.”
Daniel looked at her burned arm.
She ignored him.
The three of them entered the smoke-filled corridor.
Above, guests screamed for help.
Fire rolled across the ballroom ceiling.
Daniel broke open a glass cabinet and removed an emergency ax.
Emily led them through the servants’ staircase.
They reached the main floor, where dozens of people were trapped behind electronic doors.
Among them were the same judges, politicians, and wealthy donors who had watched Emily bleeding on the rug.
Now they begged her for help.
“Please!”
“The doors won’t open!”
“My children are outside!”
Emily stared at them through the glass.
A state senator pressed both palms against the door.
“Emily, I’m sorry. I should have helped you.”
She looked at his frightened face.
“You watched him hit me.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
Daniel placed a hand on her shoulder.
“We don’t save people because they deserve it.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Then she entered the emergency code.
The doors unlocked.
Guests pushed past her without thanking her.
Mara watched them flee.
“You still saved them.”
Emily looked back toward the fire.
“I’m done letting the Whitmores decide what kind of person I become.”
They reached the control room.
The door was locked.
Daniel swung the ax.
Once.
Twice.
On the third strike, the lock broke.
Inside, a security officer lay dead beside the main console.
The purge controls flashed red.
Mara accessed the system.
“I can open the gates, but I can’t stop the charges.”
“Open them.”
She entered a command.
Outside, the iron gates began moving.
People ran toward the road.
The timer continued.
04:12
Emily noticed a live camera feed from the underground dock.
Charles was gone.
Reed lay unconscious beside the yacht.
Vivian had disappeared.
The red folder was missing.
Rebecca stood over Reed, shouting for help.
A second camera showed Charles and Vivian entering the sea tunnel with Anna.
Mara stared at the screen.
“They took her again.”
Daniel grabbed the radio.
“Rebecca, get out of the dock. We’re coming down.”
Rebecca’s voice answered through static.
“Daniel, Charles didn’t take Anna.”
Daniel stopped.
On the screen, Vivian was holding the pistol.
Charles appeared to be arguing with her.
Rebecca continued.
“Vivian has the ledger.”
The timer reached three minutes.
Mara enlarged another camera angle.
Vivian struck Charles with the gun and forced him into the tunnel.
Charles was not escaping with her.
He was her prisoner.
Emily stared at the screen.
“Why would Vivian turn against her own son?”
Rebecca’s answer came through the radio.
“Because Charles was never her son.”
The camera feed flickered.
May you like
Vivian looked directly into the lens.
Then she fired into it.
