Chapter 11 - FOURTEEN MINUTES TO LIVE

14:31.

14:30.

14:29.

The red numbers burned across every monitor.

Adrian stood motionless in the center of the underground facility while alarms pulsed through the walls.

Ronan slammed his shoulder against the sealed steel door.

Nothing.

Daniel pounded against the glass chamber.

“Adrian!”

“Look at me!”

Adrian turned.

Daniel pointed toward the far side of the corridor.

“There’s an emergency control room behind that wall.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve been trapped here for six years.”

Adrian stared at him.

Six years.

Six years of believing his brother was dead.

Six years of grief.

Six years stolen.

There would be time for anger later.

If they survived.

“Can you open this chamber from inside?”

Daniel shook his head.

“Thomas controls everything remotely.”

Ronan looked at the ceiling.

“Then we find Thomas.”

A speaker crackled.

Their father’s voice returned.

“You always were impatient, Ronan.”

Ronan froze.

Thomas knew his name.

Adrian looked upward.

“Show yourself.”

Thomas laughed softly.

“Why?”

“You came all this way.”

“You should enjoy the suspense.”

Adrian’s hands curled into fists.

“Release Daniel.”

“No.”

“Then release Ronan.”

“No.”

“What do you want?”

Silence.

Then Thomas answered.

“You.”

Adrian frowned.

“You already have me.”

“No.”

Thomas’s voice hardened.

“I have your body.”

“I want your obedience.”

Daniel stepped closer to the glass.

“Don’t listen to him.”

Thomas continued.

“You built a remarkable empire, Adrian.”

“Shipping.”

“Real estate.”

“Finance.”

“Technology.”

“You took what I gave you and turned it into something larger.”

“You sound proud.”

“I am.”

“Then why try to kill me?”

Thomas laughed.

“Kill you?”

“No.”

“The wedding plan was never meant to kill you.”

Adrian went still.

Julian had shown him the medical examiner report.

The poison.

The succession documents.

Thomas continued.

“That was theatre.”

“For whom?”

“For Julian.”

Adrian’s expression changed.

“He was supposed to believe I wanted you dead.”

“Why?”

“Because frightened men reveal where they hide their loyalties.”

Adrian stared at the monitors.

“And Anna?”

“An accident.”

Daniel shouted.

“She was chained underground!”

Thomas ignored him.

“Anna saw something she shouldn’t have.”

“Julian panicked.”

“He has always been weak when women cry.”

Adrian’s voice lowered.

“You ordered him to kill her.”

“I ordered him to solve a problem.”

“He chose badly.”

Adrian looked at Daniel.

“What about him?”

Silence.

Thomas’s voice changed.

Colder.

“Daniel betrayed this family.”

Daniel laughed bitterly.

“This family?”

“You tried to murder me.”

“I preserved what mattered.”

“You mean control.”

“I mean legacy.”

The timer reached thirteen minutes.

13:00.

12:59.

12:58.

Adrian stepped toward Daniel’s chamber.

“Where’s the control room?”

Daniel pointed.

“Behind the west panel.”

Adrian inspected the wall.

Nothing.

No handle.

No seam.

Ronan ran his fingers along the metal.

“There.”

A hidden biometric scanner.

Adrian pressed his palm against it.

Red light.

ACCESS DENIED.

Daniel shouted.

“It responds to Thomas!”

Ronan cursed.

Adrian looked at the scanner.

“Blood?”

“Genetic verification.”

Adrian stared at Daniel.

Thomas was his biological father.

But Daniel was not.

Adrian pressed his palm again.

Nothing.

Then he understood.

He removed his knife.

Cut across his palm.

Blood spread.

He pressed harder.

The scanner blinked.

PROCESSING.

Ronan looked at him.

“Come on.”

Green.

ACCESS GRANTED.

A section of the wall slid open.

Thomas’s voice disappeared from the speakers.

For the first time, Adrian heard anger in it.

“Stop.”

Adrian smiled.

“There you are.”

They entered the control room.

Rows of switches.

Security panels.

Structural maps.

One schematic showed explosive charges beneath the island’s underground supports.

Ronan stared.

“He really can sink it.”

Daniel shouted through the glass.

“Disable sectors four and seven first!”

Adrian worked the panel.

12:11.

12:10.

The system rejected him.

MANUAL OVERRIDE REQUIRED.

Ronan pointed to another map.

“Manual means local.”

“Where?”

Daniel shouted.

“Pump chamber!”

“Lowest level!”

Adrian looked at Ronan.

“You get Daniel out.”

“You?”

“I’m going down.”

Ronan shook his head.

“No.”

Adrian grabbed his shoulder.

“If I don’t shut this down, none of us get out.”

Daniel slammed the glass.

“Adrian!”

Adrian looked at his brother.

“Stay alive.”

Daniel’s eyes filled with something between fear and rage.

“You don’t get to disappear on me now.”

Adrian gave him the smallest smile.

“Then make sure I don’t.”

He ran.

The stairwell descended beneath the facility.

One level.

Two.

Three.

The alarms became louder.

The air grew colder.

At the bottom, Adrian entered a massive pump room.

Steel pipes crossed the ceiling.

Ocean water thundered behind reinforced walls.

A red emergency console stood on the far side.

11:04.

11:03.

Adrian moved toward it.

Then someone stepped from behind the machinery.

Older.

Tall.

Gray suit.

Silver hair.

No cane.

No weakness.

Thomas Blackwood.

Alive.

Adrian stopped.

For twelve years, his father had existed only in memories.

Cruel eyes.

Perfect posture.

A voice that could make two boys freeze.

Now he stood twenty feet away.

Thomas smiled.

“You look exactly like me.”

Adrian drew his gun.

“No.”

“I spent my entire life making sure I didn’t.”

Thomas’s smile disappeared.

“Still sentimental.”

“You imprisoned your own son for six years.”

“He isn’t my son.”

“He was more your son than I ever wanted to be.”

Thomas stepped closer.

“You came all this way for him.”

“Yes.”

“For a maid.”

“Yes.”

“For a child you didn’t know existed a week ago.”

“Yes.”

Thomas shook his head.

“That is why you will lose everything.”

Adrian raised the gun.

“No.”

“That is why you already did.”

The timer continued.

10:32.

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10:31.

And father and son finally stood face to face.