Chapter 9 - The Rising Tide
The Old Harbor district was a graveyard of rusted shipping containers, decaying cranes, and abandoned warehouses jutting into the black, oily waters of the bay. Heavy fog rolled off the surf, masking the approach of Eleanor’s sedan as she killed the headlights and coasted to a stop behind a row of concrete bollards.
"Listen to me carefully, Lily," Eleanor said, turning around to face the girl. She placed the hollow gold ring and the microdot into Lily’s tiny palm, closing her fingers tightly over it. "Stay in this car. Lock both doors. If I am not back in twenty minutes, take this phone, press emergency, and ask for Inspector Hayes. Do you understand?"
"Don't leave me alone," Lily pleaded, her chin trembling.
Eleanor cupped the child's cheek. For the first time in seven years, she felt a tear slip down her own face. "I spent seven years without you. I swear to you on my life, Lily, nothing in this world will keep me away from you again. I am bringing your mother back."
Eleanor slipped out into the freezing rain.
The warehouse marked on Marcus’s digital register was Sluice Station 4—a century-old hydraulic facility designed to regulate harbor water levels. The sound of rushing, churning water echoed through the rotting corrugated walls.
She crept through a rusted side doorway, her pistol drawn. The smell of brine and engine grease was overwhelming. In the center of the subterranean concrete basin, strapped to an iron support pillar, was Clara. The dark harbor water was already swirling around Clara’s chest, rising steadily with the incoming oceanic tide.
On the catwalk above stood two armed private security contractors, casually smoking cigarettes while checking their wristwatches.
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Eleanor took a deep, steadying breath. She raised her firearm, aligned the tritium night sights with the heavy overhead industrial floodlight chain, and squeezed the trigger.
The floodlight crashed down into the flooded basin with a shower of high-voltage sparks, instantly short-circuiting the power grid and plunging the entire complex into pitch-black chaos.
