Chapter 60 - Sinking Shadows
"Scuttling charges!" Daniel roared from the salon doorway, carrying Lily in his arms after cutting her straps with a combat knife. "Emma, the hull is breached! She’s taking on water fast!"
The yacht immediately began to settle by the stern, the roar of flooding compartments vibrating through the deck plates. The ocean rushed into the lower companionways with terrifying ferocity, black water frothing around Emma’s knees within seconds.
Alistair Vance grinned up through his cracked teeth, blood staining his grey coat. "We don't leave witnesses, Emma. The founders never leave evidence. If I can't have the key... neither will the world."
Emma didn't waste another second on him. She rose to her feet and turned her back on the dying oligarch, rushing toward Daniel and Lily.
"Mom!" Lily reached out, wrapping her small arms desperately around Emma’s neck as Emma pulled her into a crushing embrace.
"I've got you, baby. I've got you," Emma whispered, kissing Lily’s rain-soaked hair. "You did so good. You were so brave."
"We need to get to the bow life-pod now!" Daniel shouted, pulling Emma toward the forward hatch. "The stern is completely underwater! We have less than two minutes before the suction drags everything down!"
They fought their way forward against the steep tilt of the deck. Cold, black sea water was pouring down the ventilation shafts. Behind them, through the shattered salon windows, Emma saw Alistair Vance get swept away by a wall of rushing water, disappearing into the dark maw of the flooding lower deck without another sound.
They reached the forward compartment where a bright orange, enclosed deep-sea survival capsule was mounted on an emergency hydraulic rail.
Daniel slammed the manual release lever, throwing the heavy hatch open. "Lily, get inside! Now!"
Lily scrambled into the reinforced pod. Emma climbed in beside her, pulling Daniel by the vest. "Daniel, get in!"
"I have to release the external locking pins manually!" Daniel yelled back over the deafening groan of buckling steel. "The hydraulic circuit is dead—if I don't pull the manual pins from outside, the pod sinks with the ship!"
"No! Daniel, there has to be another way!" Emma screamed, holding his arm.
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"There isn't!" Daniel’s face was smeared with soot and sea salt, his eyes fierce and resolute. "You saved my life in Geneva, Emma. Take your daughter home."
***
