Chapter 14 - The Lighthouse on Blackwood Island
Thunderclouds rolled over the rocky shores of Blackwood Island like an iron curtain. Rain lashed against the ancient stone foundation of the decommissioned lighthouse, where the sea crashed violently against forty-foot jagged cliffs below.
Maddie and Christian reached the heavy iron doors of the lighthouse subterranean bunker fifteen minutes ahead of the interceptor boats. The lock on the ground-level entryway had been blown off with shaped thermite charges; the molten metal was still hissing in the cold rain.
""They're already inside,"" Christian whispered, drawing his suppressed sidearm.
They moved silently down the spiraling stone staircase leading deep into the bedrock. The air grew damp, smelling of old sea salt, ozone, and wet concrete. At the bottom of the descent stood a massive, bank-grade steel vault door bearing the number 42 engraved in polished brass.
The heavy hydraulic wheel of the vault was halfway turned.
Inside the cavernous, reinforced chamber illuminated by portable work lights stood three figures. Bradley, his face bruised and a crude white bandage wrapped around his wrist where the handcuffs had cut into him, was pacing nervously.
Beside the central glass display case stood Victoria Vance. At fifty-two, Victoria remained devastatingly elegant in an ivory cashmere coat, her cold, aristocratic features framed by a silk headscarf. Flanking them was a burly mercenary commander holding an assault rifle.
""Hurry up, Bradley!"" Victoria hissed in a sharp, clipped accent. ""The digital bypass is stalling at eighty percent!""
""It requires her retina, Victoria!"" Bradley spat back, trembling with rage and fear. ""I told you we should have abducted the girl before blowing the ship!""
""You don't need to abduct me, Bradley,"" Maddie’s voice echoed off the damp concrete walls.
Bradley spun around, drawing a revolver from his waistband.
Christian fired a single, suppressed round that took the mercenary commander through the shoulder, sending him crashing into the display case before he could raise his weapon.
""Drop it, Bradley!"" Maddie stepped into the light of the vault, her own 9mm leveled dead-center at his chest.
Victoria didn't run. She merely adjusted her silk scarf, her pale blue eyes surveying Maddie with cold, aristocratic disgust.
""Look at you, Maddie,"" Victoria sneered softly. ""Playing the hero in your father's boots. You were always an obstacle. Richard loved you more than he ever respected me.""
""You murdered him,"" Maddie said, her voice shaking with controlled rage. ""You and Bradley tampered with that helicopter.""
""Richard was going to ruin us!"" Bradley shouted, waving his revolver wildly between Maddie and Christian. ""He was going to dissolve the family fund! He left us nothing! We gave him forty years of service, and he treated us like hired help!""
""Because you were parasites!"" Maddie shouted back. ""And today, the host stops feeding you.""
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Bradley’s eyes turned feral. He cocked the hammer of his revolver, his finger tightening on the trigger: ""If I don't leave this island with the bearer bonds, Maddie, you die here with me!""
A shot rang out, echoing deafeningly in the enclosed vault.
