My Parents Skipped the Funeral of My Husband and Two Children for My Sister’s Birthday, but Six Months Later, One Headline Made Them Panic When They Discovered What I Had Done. / Chapter 86 / 121

Chapter 86 - The Shadow of the Vanguard

"We have company," Ethan said suddenly, his hand dropping to the suppressed sidearm at his thigh.

He didn't wait for me to answer. He immediately reached down and clicked off the kerosene heater, plunging the room into cold silence save for the faint hum of the satellite terminal. He killed the screen with a single keystroke.

In the sudden darkness, the faint, high-pitched whine of an engine could be heard through the foot of reinforced concrete above us.

"Drones," Ethan whispered, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. "Thermal imaging sweep. The blast at the facility triggered an automated security sweep from the southern perimeter. They’re mapping the gorge."

I moved swiftly to the cot. David had drifted back into an exhausted, feverish sleep, but Leo and Maya were wide awake, their eyes large and white in the shadows.

"Quiet as mice," I whispered, pulling the heavy wool blanket over them, tucking them against their father’s side. "Just like the game we used to play in the garden. Not a sound."

Maya nodded, biting her lower lip, burying her face into David’s torn shirt. Leo took his sister’s hand, his small face stone-cold.

Ethan stepped to the heavy iron hatch, peering through the rusted periscope optic that angled out into the blinding white of the snowstorm.

"Three snowmobiles," Ethan reported in a barely audible whisper. "Four men. Black gear, unmarked tactical kit. They’re tracking the runoff line from the drainage culvert. They found the opening."

"Mercenaries?" I asked, checking the slide on my own pistol.

"Cleaners," Ethan corrected. "They didn't come to rescue anyone. If the Architect initiated a self-destruct protocol, their only job is to confirm zero survivors and execute anyone who crawled out of the rubble."

He stepped back from the periscope and checked his watch. "The blizzard is masking our thermal signature through the rock, but if they reach this bunker and see the fresh scrape marks on the hatch hinges, they'll drop thermite down the vent pipes."

"We don't let them reach the hatch," I said, the coldness in my voice surprising even myself.

"Claire, your family—"

"My family is in this room because I let other people dictate the terms of our survival for too long," I replied, chambering a round with a sharp, definitive click. "David can’t run. The children can’t run. We ambush them at the entrance of the culvert before they cross the ridge."

Ethan stared at me in the dim light for a long moment, then a ghost of a grim smile touched his mouth. "Standard crossfire. I take the point rider. You take the rear."

"No," I said, securing my tactical harness. "We take them all simultaneously. No distress calls. No survivors to report back to the *Caelum Empress*."

I bent over the cot one last time, pressing a kiss to David’s fevered forehead, then to Leo and Maya.

"I'll be right back," I whispered.

"Mommy," Leo whispered, his voice steady for the first time in six months. "Don't miss."