CHAPTER 10 — Ten Minutes to Save an Empire
09:59...
The countdown echoed through the underground vault like a heartbeat.
Red emergency lights washed over steel walls lined with secrets powerful enough to destroy governments.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
For one impossible moment...
Enemies stood side by side.
Damian.
Elena.
Michael.
Sophia.
And the mysterious Chairwoman of Black Horizon.
The digital clock continued.
09:31...
Sophia was the first to break the silence.
"What happens when it reaches zero?"
The Chairwoman smiled without emotion.
"The vault collapses."
Michael looked at the reinforced ceiling.
"No..."
He shook his head.
"Not just the vault."
He grabbed Elena's arm.
"Everything beneath the harbor."
"There are enough explosives here to erase every document ever stored."
Damian stepped toward the central control console.
"I know this system."
"You built it?" Elena asked.
He lowered his head.
"No."
"You did."
Elena stared at him.
Years ago...
She had designed an emergency destruction protocol to ensure confidential technology could never fall into criminal hands.
It required three executive authorizations.
Three biometric identities.
Three founders.
Back then...
She believed it would protect the company forever.
She had never imagined someone would turn it into a weapon.
08:42...
Michael rushed to the terminal.
"The code has been rewritten."
"I can't stop it."
The Chairwoman folded her hands calmly.
"You cannot stop progress."
"You can only decide who survives it."
Sophia suddenly noticed something strange.
The countdown wasn't decreasing evenly.
Every few seconds...
It skipped.
08:17...
08:11...
07:54...
"Wait," she whispered.
"It's communicating."
Elena stepped closer to the screen.
Lines of encrypted numbers flashed between each second.
Not random numbers.
Coordinates.
Messages.
Someone was transmitting data while the vault prepared to self-destruct.
"They're stealing the archive..." Elena realized.
"The explosion is only a distraction."
Michael's expression darkened.
"They don't want to destroy the evidence."
"They want to own it."
Across the room, Damian quietly reached into his jacket.
Sophia immediately pointed her weapon.
"Don't!"
Damian slowly removed...
Not a gun.
A worn leather wallet.
Inside was a faded photograph.
It showed four people standing together decades earlier.
Victor Hale.
Michael Reyes.
A young Damian.
And Elena's father smiling with his arm around them.
Elena's voice trembled.
"My father knew all of you..."
Damian nodded.
"He founded Voss Global."
"But he never intended it to become an empire."
"He wanted it to expose corruption."
The Chairwoman laughed.
"And that," she said,
"was why he had to disappear."
Silence crashed over the vault.
Elena felt as though the ground beneath her no longer existed.
"My father isn't dead..."
The Chairwoman's eyes met hers.
"No."
"He's been our prisoner for eighteen years."
Every person in the room froze.
Even Michael looked stunned.
"No..." he whispered.
"That's impossible."
The Chairwoman walked toward the massive reinforced door.
"Impossible?"
She smiled.
"Then ask yourself one question."
"If Victor Hale died..."
"Who has been sending anonymous instructions that kept your company alive all these years?"
The countdown continued.
03:12...
Suddenly...
Every monitor in the vault flickered.
A weak image appeared through the static.
An elderly man.
Gray hair.
Thin.
Wearing a prison uniform.
His hands were chained.
But his eyes...
Elena recognized them instantly.
"Dad..."
The word escaped her lips before she realized she had spoken.
The man looked directly into the camera.
His voice was barely audible.
"Elena..."
"If you're seeing this..."
"...don't save me."
"Save the truth."
The screen exploded into static.
The countdown reached...
02:59...
And for the first time in twenty years...
Elena discovered that the person she had mourned her entire adult life...
May you like
Was still alive.
To Be Continued...
