CHAPTER 11 — THE LAST TUNNEL
The mansion began to collapse.
A chandelier crashed into the ballroom.
Marble floors split beneath the guests’ feet.
Daniel, Emily, and Mara raced down the servants’ staircase as fire consumed the upper level.
They reached the underground dock with less than two minutes remaining.
Rebecca had pulled Reed onto the yacht.
Evelyn was trying to restart the engine.
“Where’s Anna?” Daniel asked.
“Vivian took her through the sea tunnel.”
“And Charles?”
“With them.”
Mara looked toward the burning mansion.
“The yacht won’t clear the cave before the charges detonate.”
Rebecca pointed toward two smaller boats suspended above the water.
“Emergency launches.”
Daniel lowered the first boat.
Evelyn transferred Reed aboard.
Rebecca took the controls.
Mara started the second boat.
Emily climbed in beside her father.
The timer reached one minute.
They accelerated into the dark sea tunnel.
Behind them, flames spread across the underground dock.
The tunnel narrowed.
Stone scraped against the sides of the boats.
“Faster!” Evelyn shouted.
Rebecca pushed the engine harder.
The first explosion struck above them.
A wall of pressure traveled through the tunnel.
Daniel’s boat lifted from the water and slammed down.
Emily nearly fell overboard.
He caught her.
The ceiling began collapsing.
Mara steered between falling rocks.
Daylight appeared ahead.
The boats shot from the cliff opening seconds before the entire Whitmore estate folded inward.
The mansion disappeared into smoke, fire, and stone.
Half the cliff dropped into the Atlantic.
A tidal wave struck the boats.
Daniel held Emily beneath him as water swept across the deck.
When he lifted his head, the estate was gone.
Only flames remained along the coastline.
Mara searched the water.
“Vivian’s boat.”
A third launch moved toward the open ocean.
Vivian stood at the controls.
Anna was tied to the rear seat.
Charles lay unconscious on the floor.
The red folder was strapped beneath Vivian’s arm.
Mara turned after them.
Rebecca followed.
The chase continued beneath the fireworks.
Vivian headed toward an abandoned naval platform two miles offshore.
Daniel recognized it.
Cross Seven had used the facility during classified operations.
“She knows the old command station,” he said.
Rebecca stared at the platform.
“She should. Our father built it.”
Mara looked at her mother.
“Your father controlled Cross Seven?”
“He created the financial network behind it.”
Daniel understood why the Whitmores had always seemed untouchable.
They had not merely purchased police chiefs and judges.
They had helped construct the secret systems protecting them.
Vivian reached the platform first.
She dragged Anna and Charles inside.
By the time Daniel’s boat arrived, the outer doors were closing.
Mara jumped onto the metal landing and rolled beneath them.
Daniel followed.
Emily tried to climb out.
“No,” Daniel said. “Stay with Rebecca.”
Emily looked at him.
“Charles made me helpless for two years. I’m done waiting outside.”
She climbed onto the platform.
Rebecca followed her.
Evelyn remained with Reed.
Inside, emergency lights illuminated rusted corridors.
A trail of blood led toward the command chamber.
Charles was awake.
He had been wounded during the escape.
They heard Vivian’s voice ahead.
“You were supposed to marry Emily, secure her bloodline, and follow instructions.”
Charles laughed bitterly.
“You treated me like a servant.”
“You were a servant’s son.”
Daniel looked through the doorway.
Vivian held a pistol on Charles.
Anna was chained beside an old computer terminal.
Charles’s face twisted with hatred.
“You raised me.”
“I trained you.”
“You told me I was a Whitmore.”
“I told you what was necessary.”
Charles looked toward Anna.
“Who was my mother?”
Vivian smiled cruelly.
“A housekeeper who believed my husband loved her.”
Charles flinched.
“Where is she?”
“She learned the same lesson every woman in this family learns.”
Anna looked at him.
“She is buried beneath the old rose garden.”
Charles stared at Vivian.
For the first time, his confidence disappeared completely.
All his power had been built on another lie.
Vivian opened the red folder.
“The ledger will protect me.”
Anna shook her head.
“It will destroy you.”
Vivian pressed the pistol against Anna’s temple.
“Open it.”
“I won’t.”
“You will, or I kill Charles.”
Anna almost laughed.
“You think that threatens me?”
Vivian aimed at Charles.
Charles looked toward the doorway.
He saw Daniel.
But he said nothing.
For one brief second, they shared an understanding.
Vivian was the greater threat.
Then Charles smiled.
“Mother.”
Vivian turned.
Charles lunged.
The pistol fired.
Anna cried out.
Daniel entered the chamber.
Mara came from the opposite side.
Vivian raised the gun.
Charles grabbed her wrist.
They struggled beside the open platform hatch.
Vivian looked into the face of the man she had shaped into a monster.
“You were never my son.”
Charles whispered back.
“You were never anyone’s mother.”
Then the railing broke beneath them.
Vivian and Charles fell through the hatch.
Their bodies vanished into the black ocean below.
Emily rushed toward Anna.
The bullet had struck the chain beside her head.
She was alive.
Mara picked up the red folder.
“We have it.”
A computer screen activated behind Anna.
The Omega Ledger requested three bloodline confirmations.
Rebecca placed her hand on the first scanner.
Anna placed hers on the second.
Mara approached the third.
Before she could touch it, a voice came through the speakers.
“Authentication denied.”
Mara stopped.
The screen displayed a new message.
SUBJECT B IS NOT THE FINAL DAUGHTER.
Rebecca stared at the words.
“That’s impossible.”
A fourth scanner rose from the console.
Then the screen displayed Emily’s name.
FINAL HEIR REQUIRED.
Emily stepped forward.
The moment she touched the scanner, every door on the platform locked.
May you like
A second message appeared.
CROSS SEVEN TERMINATION SEQUENCE ACTIVATED.
