Chapter 60 - The Serpent's Final Eclipse
The wind roared through the subterranean tunnel, whipping Claire's hair across her face as the armored shuttle gained terrifying speed.
Inside the carriage, the train rattled violently against the narrow rails, tearing through the granite veins of Cheyenne Mountain toward the outside world.
Claire pulled herself up the ladder, her muscles burning with exhaustion, and kicked the emergency access panel off the carriage roof.
She dropped through the hatch into the luxurious, mahogany-paneled interior of the private train.
At the far end of the car, Hayes stood behind a bulletproof reinforced partition, typing frantically into a central console.
"It's over, Hayes!" Claire yelled, leveling her sidearm through the reinforced glass viewing port.
Hayes looked up, completely calm, holding a heavy titanium briefcase against his chest.
"You really are your father's daughter," Hayes said through the intercom system. "Stubborn. Relentless. Incapable of understanding the bigger picture."
"Open the partition and disarm the transmitter," Claire demanded, stepping toward the glass.
"I can't do that, Claire," Hayes said, offering a sad, almost regretful smile.
"Why?"
"Because the transmitter isn't linked to Richard's pod," Hayes confessed, holding up the blinking wristband.
Claire stopped in her tracks, her mind racing.
"The pod was an empty shell, Claire," Hayes murmured, tilting his head toward the dark tunnel rushing past outside the windows.
"What are you talking about?" Claire whispered, cold dread seizing her chest.
"The man in the tank back there... was a decoy. A surgically altered operative kept on ice to lure you and Margaret into the open."
Claire felt the floor drop out from beneath her reality once again.
"Where is my father, Hayes?!" Claire screamed, firing three rounds into the reinforced glass.
The bullets spiderwebbed the thick laminate, but failed to penetrate.
Hayes tapped the screen on his console, and a live satellite video feed illuminated the wall behind him.
On the screen was an isolated, snow-covered compound surrounded by towering razor-wire fences somewhere in the Arctic wilderness.
An older man, unmistakably Richard Vance, sat inside a warm cabin by a roaring fireplace, looking peacefully out a frosted window.
"He's been living in Alaska under deep cover for twenty-four years, Claire," Hayes said, his voice completely devoid of mockery. "He chose this life. He chose to disappear so the syndicate would never hunt you down."
"You're lying," Claire breathed, her voice cracking.
"Your father handed me the Black Sun codes voluntarily," Hayes said softly. "The price he demanded was your safety. He traded his entire life so you could grow up free."
"I grew up in an orphanage, Hayes! I grew up being sent into war zones!" Claire yelled, tears of fury burning behind her eyes.
"Because Margaret wanted you dead!" Hayes countered fiercely. "The military was the only place on earth where Margaret’s assassins couldn't reach you! The SEALs made you invincible, Claire! I gave you the armor you needed to survive her!"
The train suddenly burst from the darkness of the mountain tunnel into the blinding glare of a raging Colorado blizzard.
The high-altitude bridge spanned a terrifying, thousand-foot chasm over the jagged canyon below.
A heavy digital chime sounded from Hayes's briefcase.
"The train brakes were sabotaged by Julian before we left the platform," Hayes said, looking down at his terminal as the speedometer climbed into the red.
"What?!" Claire shouted.
"Julian never wanted either of us to leave this mountain," Hayes said, pressing a button that disengaged the coupling between Claire's carriage and the engine car.
The heavy steel latch slammed open with a deafening bang.
Claire’s carriage began to rapidly decelerate, sparks raining from the friction brakes as the engine car, carrying Hayes and the briefcase, accelerated ahead onto the trestle bridge.
"The coordinates to Alaska are in the drive Margaret took!" Hayes shouted through the parting glass as the distance grew between them. "Find your mother, Claire! Find Margaret before Julian's people execute her!"
Before Claire could respond, a thunderous explosion ripped through the support beams of the trestle bridge ahead.
The engine car plummeted into the white void of the blizzard, disappearing into the abyss below.
Claire’s carriage skidded violently to a halt on the edge of the severed precipice, teetering precariously over the thousand-foot drop.
Silence fell over the storm, broken only by the howling wind and the crackle of her tactical radio.
May you like
A transmission cut through the static, cold and triumphant.
"Commander Vance," Julian’s voice purred over the comms from inside the mountain bunker. "Thank you for clearing the board for me. Now... let's see how fast you can find our mother before she takes her final breath."
