Chapter 75 - Cold Grudges
"Did you really think you could run from the people who funded your creation?" Vanessa’s voice echoed across the open expanse, amplified by a throat mic in her tactical collar.
The heavy blast door was closing on a timed hydraulic loop, grinding shut inch by inch.
"You look well, Vanessa," Naomi called out calmly from inside the threshold, not breaking eye contact. "Your stride is a bit uneven, though."
Vanessa’s face twisted into an ugly, venomous sneer, shedding every trace of high-society poise. "Kill them! Keep the boy breathing until I extract the codes!"
The four mercenaries raised their suppressed rifles, advancing rapidly across the ice. But Naomi was already moving. She snatched an emergency iron pry-bar from the wall bracket, wedging it directly into the emergency seal release. The massive blast door dropped with terrifying speed, slamming down like a guillotine.
A volley of high-caliber rounds pinged fruitlessly against the exterior armor plate before the seals hissed shut, locking out the storm and the hunters.
"We have five minutes at best before they breach the ventilation shaft," Naomi said, dropping the bar.
She turned to Ethan, kneeling beside him in the dim red emergency lighting that had flickered to life throughout the installation. She used a strip of canvas from her belt to tourniquet his bleeding leg.
"She’s unhinged," Ethan whispered, his face pale from shock and cold. "If she controls the Sterling board, she has access to private orbital surveillance. She tracked us from the moment the Leviathan breached."
"She’s predictable," Naomi said, her tone level and unbothered. "Petulant people with infinite resources always overextend. They think money guarantees competence. She came here in person because her ego demanded she watch me fall."
"And what happens if she gets what’s inside this bunker?"
May you like
Naomi stood up, looking down the dark corridor where rows of dormant servers and preservation cryo-tubes stretched into infinity. "If she gets what’s inside, she doesn't just destroy Whitmore House, Ethan. She wipes the identity of every operative who ever tried to escape."
***
