Chapter 63 - Shadows of the Iron Rig
Dawn did not bring sunlight, only a pale, curdled grey that bled into the frothing peaks of the North Sea. Through the thick, salt-crusted quartz porthole, Emma watched the silhouette rise from the ocean like the skeleton of a drowned titan.
It was not a modern drilling platform. It was a decommissioned Cold War-era deep-sea research station, reinforced with blackened steel latticework and fortified towers that looked more like a coastal artillery fortress than an industrial rig. Decades of salt and storm had rusted its lower pylons into jagged fangs, but the upper superstructure glowed with active perimeter lights. Microwave radar arrays turned lazily against the slate-coloured sky.
The navigation system chimed. The screen flashed amber: *APPROACH VECTOR ACCEPTED. DOCKING BAY CHARLIE OPEN.*
"We're going underneath," Emma said under her breath, securing the sidearm into the holster beneath her coat and checking the magazine of the second weapon. She slipped the encrypted data drive into her inner pocket and helped Lily into a child-sized thermal survival suit from the cache. "Lily, stay behind me no matter what happens. If I tell you to run, you don't look back. Understand?"
Lily nodded gravely, her small hands clutching Emma's wrist with surprising strength. "I'm not scared, Mom. Daniel said you were stronger than all of them."
The mention of Daniel sent an acute pang of grief slicing through Emma's ribs. Her former protector, the man who had stood between them and certain death on *The Leviathan*, was lost somewhere beneath thousands of tons of frozen salt water. She couldn't let his sacrifice be in vain.
With a grinding shudder, the capsule entered the flooded belly of the platform. Giant steel jaws clamped onto the vessel's hull, dragging it out of the violent chop into a cavernous, dripping subterranean moon pool.
The water drained away in churning whirlpools. Powerful halogen floodlights flared to life overhead, momentarily blinding Emma through the viewport. High-pressure steam vents hissed, purging the atmosphere in the cavernous dock.
Above them, an automated gangway descended with a heavy clang, locking directly against the capsule’s primary hatch. The pneumatic seal around their door hissed and depressurized.
The hatch unlatched from the outside.
May you like
Emma raised the pistol, aiming straight at the widening seam of the door, her finger tightening on the trigger.
***
