21. Caleb
CALEB
Nine minutes.
That’s how long we have before the seventh drive destroys every piece of evidence we recovered.
Water rushes around my boots as I lead the team into the drainage channel.
The tunnel is less than five feet high. We move in a crouch, weapons held above the filthy water as the current fights every step.
Behind me, Evie slips.
I catch her before she falls.
“I’m fine,” she whispers.
“That’s my line.”
“You use it too often.”
I keep one hand around her arm until her footing is secure.
Rook moves ahead of us, sweeping the narrow passage with his light. Cobra follows with the enthusiasm of a man entering an underground structure while carrying explosives.
Fathom checks the countdown on his tablet.
“Eight minutes, twenty seconds.”
“Can you slow it?” Rook asks.
“Not until I reach the bunker’s internal network.”
Mac struggles through the water beside Shark. His injuries are catching up with him, but he refuses assistance.
“The channel divides ahead,” he says. “The left passage leads beneath the cabin. The right connects to the emergency rail system.”
“Which one reaches the command network?” Fathom asks.
“Left.”
“And Graves?”
“Probably the command center.”
Probably isn’t good enough.
Graves knows we’re coming.
He also knows Mac understands this bunker.
If he expects us to go left, then left is either the trap or exactly where he wants us to believe the trap is.
Movement sounds ahead.
Not water.
A boot scraping against concrete.
I raise my fist.
Everyone stops.
One heat signature appears through my scope.
Then another.
Two men wait beyond the bend.
I lower my voice. “Contacts ahead.”
“Inner Guard?” Rook asks.
Mac shakes his head. “Not this far from the bunker.”
“Then Graves left them behind to delay us.”
The first man leans around the corner.
I fire.
My round strikes his weapon and knocks it from his hands.
Rook surges forward before the second man can react. He slams the operator against the wall and drives an elbow into his throat.
Cobra reaches the first man and forces him facedown in the water.
“Don’t move.”
The mercenary ignores him and reaches for a knife.
Cobra twists his arm behind his back.
“I was hoping you’d do that.”
Within seconds, both men are disarmed and bound above the waterline.
Rook searches one of them and finds a bunker access card.
“Walter gave you orders?” he asks.
The man says nothing.
I study his face.
His eyes aren’t fixed on us.
They keep moving toward the right-hand passage.
“He isn’t protecting the command center.”
Evie looks at the prisoner. “He’s worried we’ll take the other tunnel.”
Mac’s expression changes. “The rail system.”
“The seventh drive isn’t in the command center,” I say.
Fathom checks the countdown.
“Seven minutes.”
Evie kneels in front of the prisoner.
“Graves is using the command network to trigger the purge, but the drive is going somewhere else. Who has it?”
The man’s jaw tightens.
Evie watches him.
“The Chairman?”
A flicker.
Barely visible.
Enough.
Mac’s face loses its color. “The Chairman is here?”
The prisoner tries to hide his reaction.
Too late.
Evie stands. “He is now.”
Rook turns toward the right-hand tunnel. “If the Chairman has the drive, who’s running the purge?”
“Graves,” I answer. “He’s bait.”
The entire facility above us exists to keep our attention on Walter while someone more important escapes beneath the mountain.
Fathom’s screen flashes.
Six minutes, forty seconds.
Rook looks from the left tunnel to the right.
“We split.”
“No,” I say.
His eyes meet mine.
“Graves expects us to divide the team.”
“So what do you suggest?”
“We take the command center first. Fathom stops the purge. Then we follow the rail line.”
“And if the Chairman leaves before that?”
I look at Evie.
She already understands.
“The seventh drive is connected to the other six,” she says. “He can’t destroy them remotely without maintaining the link.”
Fathom nods. “If he disconnects, the countdown stops.”
“Then he won’t leave until the purge finishes.”
Rook checks his weapon.
“Left tunnel.”
We continue toward the bunker.
Behind us, the prisoner laughs.
Quietly.
Confidently.
“You’re already too late.”
The timer reaches six minutes.
And somewhere inside the mountain, a massive engine awakens.
The underground train is preparing to leave.