Chapter 16 - THE BURN ORDER
Pier Nine was already burning when Celeste arrived.
Flames climbed the abandoned warehouse walls.
Black smoke rolled across the harbor.
Julian’s helicopter rested near the shipping yard.
Mercer had landed to recover the final crates of altered technology.
They intended to destroy whatever remained and escape by sea.
Federal vehicles surrounded the terminal.
Admiral Reed coordinated the entry teams.
Celeste stood beside him wearing body armor over her uniform.
“You are injured,” Reed said.
“I’ve been injured before.”
“That does not make you indestructible.”
“No.”
Celeste checked her sidearm.
“It makes me experienced.”
A surveillance drone transmitted images from inside the warehouse.
Mercer stood near the loading bay with six armed contractors.
Julian was beside a cargo vessel.
Several explosive charges had been placed along the pier.
Vivian examined the video feed.
“He’ll detonate everything once the boat clears the harbor.”
“You’re staying here,” Celeste told her.
Vivian laughed bitterly.
“You still think you can give me orders?”
“I know exactly what you do when no one does.”
Vivian’s expression hardened.
Celeste continued.
“You are a witness.”
“You’re also responsible for assaulting me.”
“I saved your life.”
“That does not erase what you did.”
Vivian looked away.
“I know.”
The admission was quiet but genuine.
A second drone image appeared.
A figure was tied to a chair inside the warehouse office.
Celeste enlarged the image.
The prisoner was a gray-haired woman.
Her face remained hidden.
Arthur’s words returned to Celeste.
Her mother’s body had never been identified.
Reed saw the hope in her expression.
“Do not assume anything.”
“She has Amelia’s necklace.”
The gold chain was visible against the prisoner’s dark clothing.
Celeste remembered it from childhood.
Her mother had worn it every day.
A voice came through the tactical channel.
“Charges are armed.”
“Estimated detonation in eight minutes.”
Reed ordered the teams forward.
Gunfire erupted near the loading yard.
Celeste entered through a side passage as flames spread across the ceiling.
She reached the office and broke the lock.
The gray-haired woman slowly raised her head.
Celeste stopped in the doorway.
The woman’s eyes were unmistakable.
“Mom?”
Amelia Warren looked at her daughter through eleven stolen years.
“Celeste,” she whispered.
May you like
Then the countdown timer beside her chair activated.
Sixty seconds remained.
