Chapter 4 - BENEATH VALE MANOR
The smoke smelled of diesel and burned plastic.
Arthur was trying to destroy the underground room with us inside it.
Admiral Reed wrapped his jacket around Naomi’s face.
I searched the walls for another exit.
Every naval compartment had an emergency release.
Arthur’s private bunker would have one too.
The heat increased.
Flames spread beneath the locked door at the top of the staircase.
I forced myself to ignore the pain in my back.
The South China Sea compartment returned in flashes.
Black water around my knees.
Metal screaming beneath pressure.
Sailors crawling beneath the hatch while fire burned through my uniform.
I heard Lieutenant Daniel Cross begging me to let go before the bulkhead collapsed.
I had held on.
One sailor after another had escaped.
Forty-three lives.
Forty-three reasons not to release the hatch.
“Celeste,” Reed called.
I returned to the present.
Naomi had found a maintenance panel behind the shredder.
I ripped it open.
A narrow service tunnel extended beneath the manor.
We crawled through smoke and darkness for nearly forty yards.
The tunnel ended behind the wine cellar.
Federal marshals broke the door from the other side.
Firefighters rushed past us toward the bunker.
Arthur’s attempt to destroy the records failed.
The memory card remained inside Naomi’s jacket.
The photograph remained in Reed’s hand.
But the original ledgers were still missing.
We emerged into the courtyard.
News helicopters hovered above the estate.
Guests stood behind police barriers in formal clothing.
Vivienne sat inside an ambulance with a blanket around her shoulders.
Marcus was nowhere to be seen.
I approached my sister.
She looked at the soot covering my face.
“Father said the fire was an electrical accident.”
“Father locked us inside.”
Her eyes shifted away.
“You always assume the worst.”
“Where is Marcus?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Arthur?”
Vivienne hesitated.
That hesitation gave me the answer.
Arthur had left through the eastern gate before federal agents sealed the property.
Harlan had probably taken him to a private airfield.
Naomi received a call from the courthouse.
The judge had issued a temporary order preventing Arthur from leaving the country.
The order had arrived nine minutes too late.
His corporate jet had already departed.
Its official destination was Geneva.
Reed contacted naval intelligence.
The jet disappeared from civilian radar twenty minutes after takeoff.
“He had this planned,” Naomi said.
“He always has another route.”
My phone vibrated.
The number was blocked.
A man spoke when I answered.
“Captain Vale?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Ethan Shaw.”
Naomi and Reed moved closer.
The accountant’s breathing sounded uneven.
“Your mother told me to contact you if the manor ever burned.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t say.”
“Arthur believes you’re dead.”
“That is why I’m still alive.”
He paused.
“I have the blue ledger.”
“What does it contain?”
“Every payment.”
“Every false shipment.”
“Every name.”
A vehicle door slammed through the phone.
Ethan gasped.
Someone shouted in the background.
“Ethan?”
“Don’t trust your brother.”
The connection ended.
Seconds later, a photograph arrived.
Ethan was kneeling inside an empty warehouse.
May you like
His hands were tied behind his back.
Marcus stood beside him holding a gun.
