Chapter 56 - The Ironwood Line
"Stand back!" I commanded Lily.
I raised the sidearm Julian had given me, pressed the muzzle against the steel lock assembly, turned my face away, and fired twice. The concussive blasts inside the narrow trench rang in my ears like sledgehammers, but the lock mechanism shattered under the heavy kinetic impact.
I kicked the door open.
We tumbled into the warm, thrumming interior of the lower utility bay. Giant diesel generators roared along the far wall, their massive pistons vibrating the concrete floor beneath our boots. The air was thick with the scent of motor oil and hot metal.
"Claire!"
A voice cut through the mechanical drone.
I spun around, bringing the gun up, my finger hovering over the trigger.
Standing near the main electrical junction was a man in an immaculate gray suit, his silk tie loosened, his hands raised in surrender. It was Richard Sterling—the groom from the wedding, the man Sarah had nearly married before Lily dropped that silver flash drive onto the altar.
"Don't shoot," Richard pleaded, his face pale, sweat beading on his forehead despite the chill of the mountain air. "Please, Claire. I’m not armed."
"What are you doing here, Richard?" I demanded, my voice shaking with fury as I kept the barrel locked on his chest. "Did Victoria send you to clean up the loose ends?"
"Victoria used me just like she used Sarah!" Richard stammered, taking a cautious step forward, his hands held high. "I managed the Consortium's shell portfolios in Zurich. I didn't know about the assassinations! I didn't know about Arthur! When the wedding blew up, they froze my accounts. They brought me here to input the final offshore liquidity transfers before the satellite fires!"
"Where is she?"
"She's on the transmission deck," Richard said, his breath hitching as he glanced toward the iron staircase leading to the upper levels. "She has three mercenaries left. Claire, you can’t go up there. She doesn't care about the money anymore. She knows the purge is unraveling the network. She’s going to initiate the scorched-earth protocol—she’s broadcasting a signal that will wipe every digital database in the western hemisphere. Stock exchanges, hospital grids, air traffic control—she’s resetting civilization to zero!"
"She's mad," I whispered.
"She’s an ideological zealot!" Richard cried. "She believes modern humanity is a failed experiment that needs to be cleansed by fire! Arthur was the only one who realized it thirty years ago, and she poisoned him for it!"
A sudden series of concussive thuds vibrated through the ceiling above—Julian’s team was breaching the upper floor, engaging Victoria’s contractors in close-quarters combat.
"Lily, stay behind me," I said, ignoring Richard as I moved toward the staircase.
"Claire, wait!" Richard lunged forward, not with hostility, but with desperate panic, reaching for the silver drive sticking out of my pocket. "Give me the drive! I can route the Swiss holdings into an untraceable blind trust! We can take the child and disappear to South America—we don't have to die for Arthur's war!"
I didn't hesitate. I swung the butt of the heavy pistol across Richard’s jaw.
The impact sent him sprawling across the concrete, knocking him senseless against an iron support beam. He groaned once and slumped onto the floor.
"Nobody touches this drive," I whispered, stepping over him.
I looked at Lily. Her eyes were wide, but she didn't flinch. She simply tightened her tiny fingers around mine.
"To the top, Mom," she said softly.
May you like
We started up the stairs.
***
