Chapter 62 - The Leviathan Protocol
The North Sea did not merely swell; it parted.
A jagged spine of reinforced titanium broke the frothing surface two hundred yards starboard of Platform Null-Seven, churning millions of gallons of black seawater into a boiling froth of white foam. The sheer displacement sent a tidal surge crashing against the rig’s massive support pylons, making the iron deck beneath Daniel’s boots shudder like a struck bell.
It was not a whale, and it was far too colossal to be an ordinary nuclear submarine. It was an oceanic dreadnought—a submersible mobile facility bearing the deep-stamped insignia of the Zurich Sovereign Syndicate.
Above, the rotors of Elena’s stealth gunship screamed as the downdraft battered Daniel, Leo, and Julian. The blinding spotlight pinned them to the slick steel of the helipad. Through the whipping sleet, Elena stood in the open bay of the aircraft, her expression devoid of warmth, her manicured fingers resting casually against the side-mounted rail.
"You think you’re running toward freedom, Daniel," Elena’s amplified voice cut through the storm, broadcast through the rig’s emergency squawk boxes. "You are running down a corridor we built for you eight years ago. Drop the boy’s hand. Surrender Julian. Step away from Leo."
"Dad!" Leo screamed, clutching Daniel’s wrist. The boy’s tablet was flashing violent crimson, the countdown ticking downward with terrifying precision: *00:03:42... 00:03:41...* "The submersible isn't backing her up! Look at the transponder frequency! It’s on the red ledger line!"
Daniel pulled both boys behind his broad frame, his coat drenched, his muscles coiled for violence. Julian, shivering uncontrollably, pressed his forehead into Daniel’s spine, his small fingers hooking into the belt loop of Daniel's tactical vest.
"She isn't here to rescue anyone," Daniel shouted into the gale, locking eyes with the woman who had shared his bed, his home, and his life—the woman who had staged an entire pregnancy, an entire wedding, an entire life just to herd these genetically engineered children into a single cage. "She’s here to burn the evidence!"
Suddenly, the dreadnought’s conning tower hissed as pneumatic vents blew pressurized steam into the freezing rain. Heavy auto-cannons telescoped from the submersible’s deck, rotating upward—not toward the sinking oil platform, but directly at Elena’s hovering gunship.
A harsh klaxon wailed inside the gunship hold. Daniel saw Subject Four—the pale little girl strapped into the passenger seat behind Elena—open her eyes. Across the distance, through the rain and the howling rotor wash, her gaze locked onto Julian.
On Leo’s tablet, the biometric line of all four children spiked into perfect synchronization.
"Fire control override!" Elena barked into her comm-link, her composure cracking for a fraction of a second as the aircraft pitched violently. "Scuttle Platform Null-Seven! Scuttle it now!"
May you like
From the dark underbelly of the dreadnought, two high-velocity incendiary torpedoes breached the surface, skimming the ocean on a collision course with the rig’s primary fuel reservoir.
---
