Chapter 9 - The Flood and the Fall
A sound like cracking thunder echoed beneath their feet.
Deep within the granite bedrock, massive iron floodgates opened into the Atlantic sea cave. A wall of black, freezing ocean water burst through the lower drainage grates with catastrophic force, surging into the bunker like an unleashed beast.
"Shoot her!" Julian shrieked, losing all control.
The tactical guards raised their rifles, but the force of the incoming water hit them first. A four-foot wave of churning, icy saltwater slammed into the base of the stairwell, sweeping the guards off their feet, smashing them against the stone walls, and dragging their weapons into the dark, foaming current.
Julian screamed as the freezing water hit his chest, knocking him backward against the iron stairs.
Clara, positioned on the elevated steel platform near the console, remained above the initial surge. She watched as the green progress bar on the screen reached 100%.
"UPLOAD COMPLETE. VANGUARD LEDGERS BROADCAST TO GLOBAL JUSTICE NETWORK."
"FACILITY SELF-DESTRUCT INITIATED. THREE MINUTES TO STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE."
The room shook violently as concrete dust rained down from the ceiling. The ancient stone pillars supporting the cottage above began to crack under the hydraulic pressure of the incoming tide.
Julian scrambled up the steel platform, his hair dripping wet, his eyes wide with manic fury. He reached out with a slippery, mud-covered hand, grabbing Clara’s ankle, trying to drag her down into the rising water with him.
"You're coming with me!" he screamed over the roar of the sea. "You don't get to walk away!"
Clara didn't scream. She didn't flinch.
She lifted her free boot and kicked Julian violently in the center of his chest.
The heavy leather heel struck him squarely. Julian lost his grip, slipping backward off the slick metal platform, splashing heavily into the six-foot-deep, churning whirlpool of ocean water rising in the bunker floor.
He resurfaced, gasping for air, reaching desperately for the iron ladder, but the powerful undertow pulled him backward toward the open sea grate.
"Clara!" he screamed, his hands tearing at the slippery stone wall as the dark water pulled him under. "Clara, save me!"
Clara turned her back on him.
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She opened an auxiliary maintenance hatch built into the rear wall behind the console—a narrow escape ladder that led directly up the interior shaft of the light tower to the cliff top above.
Carrying Lily securely in her arm, Clara stepped into the shaft, pulled the heavy steel door shut, and began her ascension into the light.
