Chapter 75 - Echoes of the Sovereign
They swung back through the shattered observation frame, landing heavily on the flooded grating of the platform. Viktor’s operators were waiting, immediately wrapping Daniel in thermal survival blankets and securing the perimeter.
Lily launched herself across the floor, crashing straight into Daniel’s chest. "Daddy! You're back! You're back!"
Daniel wrapped his trembling arms around the little girl, burying his face in her damp hair, silent tears carving tracks through the grime on his face. "I'm here, baby. I'm right here. Mom saved us."
Emma caught her breath, leaning against a rusted support beam, her muscles shaking with adrenaline. But there was no time to grieve or celebrate. She turned to Viktor. "Where is Evelyn?"
Viktor checked a digital tactical tablet strapped to his forearm. "She reached the sub-surface dock. She launched in a deep-water escape craft three minutes ago. Heading east toward the Norwegian territorial waters."
"We can't let her reach the mainland," Emma said, her voice dropping into a dangerous, icy register. "She knows the Genesis Archive is out, but she still controls the liquidity hubs. If she reaches Oslo or Stockholm, she’ll liquidate every Laurent foundation before the authorities can freeze the accounts."
Daniel looked up, his jaw set, his voice strained but lethal. "She won't go to Norway, Emma."
Emma turned to him. "What did she say to you while you were captive?"
"She wasn't talking to Norwegian contacts," Daniel coughed, leaning heavily on Viktor’s shoulder as he stood up. "She was speaking to the Old Guard in the Baltic. She called it the 'Arctic Redoubt'—an off-grid facility outside Svalbard. The Genesis Archive gave the world the financial records, but the sovereign gold reserves... the physical bullion backing the family's treaties since 1948... it's all stockpiled there. If she melts it down and moves it through the black markets, she funds an army in exile."
"The stealth vessel below," Viktor interjected, "is *The Revenant*. It's equipped with silent-drive hydro-jets. If we cast off now, we can intercept her transport before she clears the continental shelf."
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Emma knelt beside Lily, smoothing back her daughter's tangled hair. "Lily, you've been braver than anyone I know. But we have one more storm to sail through. Are you ready?"
Lily nodded, her jaw set with an unmistakable, ancestral resolve. "She tried to take away my name, Mom. Let's take back everything she stole."
