Chapter 11 - The Crew I Chose
The gate opened just wide enough for me to pass.
Vale searched me for weapons.
He did not find the thin wire hidden inside the torn hem of my dress.
"Walk," he ordered.
We moved deeper into the tunnel toward a surgical station built beside the river wall.
Monitors surrounded a narrow metal table.
Walter Mason stood beside it.
His wrists were tied.
Blood marked his collar.
"Claire," he said. "Do not let him remove the key."
I laughed once.
"Now you care what happens to my body?"
His eyes filled with something that looked like regret.
"I thought I could control the risk."
"You could not even control the truth."
Vale pushed me onto the table.
Mechanical restraints closed around my wrists.
Behind the gate, Noah argued with Marcus in whispers.
Vivian held Emma close.
Briggs had not returned.
I did not know whether he was alive.
Vale prepared a needle.
"This will stop your heart for ninety seconds. The implant will release when circulation fails."
Walter struggled against the ropes.
"She may not restart."
"Then she will die useful."
I looked at Noah.
He moved closer to the gate.
Vale noticed.
"Do not become sentimental now, Lieutenant."
Noah raised his weapon.
"You said she chose this."
"She chose service. Details are for politicians."
Noah fired.
The bullet struck Vale's shoulder.
At the same instant, I pulled the wire from my hem and looped it around the restraint release.
The lock snapped open.
Walter dropped to the floor as Marcus shot through the gate controls.
Vivian rushed Emma behind a concrete pillar.
Vale hit the dead-man switch.
Nothing happened.
Briggs's voice echoed from the upper walkway.
"Looking for this?"
He held the disconnected detonator receiver.
Vale's face finally lost its calm.
He ran.
Noah tackled him near the river channel.
They crashed through a rusted railing.
Noah caught the edge with one hand.
Vale clung to Noah's ankle above the black water.
I reached them first.
Noah looked up at me.
"Claire, I cannot hold both of us."
Vale smiled through blood.
"Then choose, Commander."
May you like
I grabbed Noah's wrist.
And Vale pulled a knife.
