Chapter 4 - The AttackThe second gunshot shattered the chandelier.
Glass exploded across the ballroom.
Guests screamed and dropped to the marble floor.
Security officers moved instantly.
Admiral Reed grabbed my arm.
“Down!”
I pulled free.
“I'm fine.”
A bullet struck the pillar behind me.
Stone fragments sprayed across my face.
“Commander!”
“I know.”
I moved toward the nearest exit.
Three armed men entered through the service corridor.
Not amateurs.
Professional movement.
Suppressed weapons.
Coordinated.
They weren't here to rob the room.
They were hunting.
For me.
I raised my weapon.
The first attacker turned.
I fired.
He dropped.
The second ducked behind a column.
The third moved toward the staircase.
I ran.
My dress was torn.
My heels were useless.
I kicked them off.
Bare feet hit cold marble.
A strange calm settled over me.
The same calm I'd felt underwater.
The same calm I'd felt with steel crushing my shoulder.
Pain didn't matter.
Movement did.
I crossed behind the grand piano.
Two shots struck the wood.
I fired back.
The attacker collapsed.
A scream came from behind me.
“Vivian!”
My sister was trapped beneath a fallen table.
For one second, I could have walked away.
Part of me wanted to.
Then I remembered what my commanding officer had taught me.
You don't decide who deserves saving.
You save whoever is there.
I ran toward her.
She stared at me.
“You came back.”
“I never left.”
I lifted the table.
“Move.”
She crawled free.
A gunman stepped from the shadows.
Vivian screamed.
I turned.
He aimed at me.
Before he could fire, Admiral Reed shot him.
The man dropped.
Reed looked at me.
“You okay?”
I nodded.
“I'm fine.”
He looked at my bare feet.
“My definition of fine may be different from yours.”
I almost laughed.
Then the room shook.
An explosion came from outside.
The windows rattled.
Someone shouted.
“North gate breached!”
Admiral Reed's expression became grim.
“They brought heavy equipment.”
My father emerged from behind the bar.
“What do they want?”
I looked at him.
“Me.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“Something I know.”
His face tightened.
“What do you know?”
I stared at him.
“The reason the ship sank.”
He went completely still.
Seven years ago, the naval vessel had not merely been attacked.
It had been sabotaged.
The official report said the cause was mechanical failure.
But that report had always bothered me.
The explosion happened in the exact location where classified cargo had been stored.
Cargo that had been removed from the manifest.
Cargo tied to my father's shipping network.
I turned to Admiral Reed.
“Open File Two.”
He nodded.
He motioned to a security officer.
The screen came alive again.
A copy of the original naval manifest appeared.
Then the amended manifest.
Then the real one.
My father's company name was listed on the real version.
A collective gasp spread through the ballroom.
My father stared at the screen.
“That was classified.”
“Yes,” Reed said.
“How did you obtain it?”
I answered.
“I survived the ship.”
Father looked at me.
“You think I sank a Navy vessel?”
“I think you knew who did.”
His face twisted.
“You're accusing me of murder.”
“I am accusing you of knowing seventeen sailors were going to die and doing nothing.”
He shouted.
“That's a lie!”
Admiral Reed stepped forward.
“Richard Vale, we have testimony placing one of your executives aboard the vessel eighteen hours before the attack.”
Father stopped.
“Who?”
I looked at him.
“Your former chief operations officer.”
Daniel whispered his name.
“Marcus Bell.”
I nodded.
Marcus Bell had disappeared seven years ago.
Officially, he had retired.
Unofficially, he had vanished.
And according to our intelligence report, he was alive.
Very much alive.
Working for Victor Sloane.
A security officer approached Admiral Reed.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We've located the attack leader.”
“Where?”
The officer looked toward the balcony.
I followed his gaze.
A man stood behind the railing.
Older.
Scarred.
Smiling.
Marcus Bell.
He looked directly at me.
Then he raised a pistol.
Not at me.
At my father.
“Tell them,” Marcus shouted.
Father went white.
“Tell them what happened that night!”
I stared upward.
Marcus's eyes locked with mine.
“You think your family betrayed you,” he said.
“They did.”
He smiled.
“But they weren't the ones who put you on that ship.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
Marcus lowered the gun toward my father.
“Ask him who changed your orders.”
My father's face collapsed.
I looked at him.
“Dad?”
Marcus laughed.
“He didn't send you there to save those sailors.”
The room went silent.
“He sent you there to die.”
My father closed his eyes.
And for the first time, I saw no anger in him.
May you like
Only guilt.
Then Marcus pulled the trigger.
