Chapter 56 - The Ghost Returns
The heat in sub-level four was suffocating, rising like an invisible wall of fire from the grated walkways.
Vapor hissed violently from cracked high-pressure steam pipes, obscuring the vast industrial chamber in dense, white fog.
Claire dropped from the ladder onto the lower platform, her boots ringing out against the iron deck.
Thomas followed immediately behind her, landing with a muffled groan as his injured side absorbed the impact.
Julian dropped last, his eyes darting frantically across the maze of pipes and flashing emergency panels.
"The cooling pumps have been completely bypassed," Julian coughed, shielding his face from a blast of scalding steam.
"Where is the medical wing?" Claire asked, scanning the perimeter through her rifle optics.
"Past the main containment core, on the eastern bulkhead," Julian replied, pointing through the fog toward a reinforced bunker structure.
Suddenly, a heavy caliber bullet shattered the steam pipe right beside Claire’s head.
Superheated steam erupted in a roaring geyser, forcing the trio to scatter behind the massive iron support pillars.
"You're too late, Claire!" Hayes’s voice boomed over the facility's localized public address system.
Through the drifting clouds of steam, Claire spotted an elevated catwalk spanning the width of the geothermal core.
Hayes stood behind a ballistic glass barrier, holding a heavy military detonator in his left hand.
Beside him sat a pressurized glass chamber surrounded by life-support monitors and humming cryo-coolers.
Inside the glass, illuminated by the cold blue glow of surgical lights, lay the motionless body of a man with graying hair.
Richard Vance.
Claire felt the breath leave her lungs as she recognized the strong, familiar line of her father’s jaw.
The machines surrounding him were beeping steadily, pumping synthetic oxygen and nutrients into his veins.
"He looks peaceful, doesn't he?" Hayes called out, his voice laced with cold amusement.
"Step away from the pod, Hayes!" Claire yelled back, stepping out from behind the pillar with her rifle trained on the glass.
"If you shoot, you shatter the life support circuitry," Hayes warned, holding the detonator high in the air. "And if I release this switch, the containment seals crack instantly."
"You won't blow the core while you're still standing in it," Thomas shouted from behind his cover.
"I don't have to," Hayes smiled, pointing toward the heavy blast door behind him.
The door led directly to the private subterranean railway shuttle.
"The shuttle is pressurized and shielded against thermal blasts," Hayes explained calmly. "I'll be five miles down the mountain before the granite collapses."
"You won't make it to the train," Claire said, her voice dropping into a deadly whisper.
"You're a brilliant soldier, Claire," Hayes chuckled. "The finest weapon I ever forged. But you're still just a girl trying to please a ghost."
Hayes flicked a toggle on the detonator.
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A high-pitched whine began to build from deep within the geothermal reactor beneath their feet.
The entire mountain shuddered violently as the countdown reached its final three minutes.
