Chapter 2 - The Waterlogged Diary
Sarah froze, her fingers tightening around the door frame until her knuckles turned bone white. She looked at Marcus, searching for any sign of cruelty or mistake. Marcus had known David for twelve years; he was the man who had delivered the company’s condolences back in May.
""Step inside,"" Sarah said, her voice shaking as she pulled him out of the cold rain.
Marcus wiped his boots and followed her into the kitchen. He glanced at the dining chair where Lily had placed the navy cap, swallowing hard. Without speaking, he set the drenched leather bag onto the table. It was branded with the crest of the maritime salvage unit.
""The salvage crew dredged an auxiliary rescue capsule three miles south of the blast perimeter yesterday,"" Marcus murmured, pulling out a sealed plastic pouch containing a water-damaged leather journal. ""The company claimed all escape pods were destroyed during the second detonation. That was a lie.""
Sarah reached out, her fingers trembling as she slid the notebook from the plastic sleeve. The ink was faded, but David’s blocky handwriting was unmistakably clear. Lily’s name appeared across multiple pages, surrounded by frantic calculations of ocean currents, coordinates, and short diary entries.
The last entry was dated two weeks after the explosion.
“If I stay on this pod, they’ll locate the beacon and finish it. Taking the raft toward the archipelago. Sarah, forgive me. Lily, hold my seat. Don't trust the agency.”
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Sarah looked up, terror and fury warring in her chest. ""Who is 'they'?""
Before Marcus could answer, the beam of headlights swept across the living room window, followed by the deep rumble of two black SUVs pulling onto the gravel driveway.
