Chapter 19 - The Underground Bunker
The micro-tracker led us forty miles deeper into the dense, foggy wilderness of the Oregon Coast Range, ending at what looked like an abandoned Cold War-era fallout shelter built into the side of a jagged limestone cliff. Heavy iron doors, camouflaged with moss and artificial foliage, sealed the entrance.
Marcus’s truck was parked fifty yards away in a hidden clearing, idling quietly.
Agent Lin cut the headlights of her unmarked vehicle two hundred yards back, killing the engine and coasting to a silent stop behind a thick clump of cedar trees.
"The bunker has a localized EMP shield," Lin whispered, checking the magazine of her carbine. "We go in analog. No comms, no cell signals, no tech backups. Just steel and instinct."
"My daughter is waiting for me," I said, my voice cold and steady. "Let's finish this."
We moved through the brush like ghosts, reaching the heavy iron doors without making a sound. Marcus had left the deadbolt partially disengaged in his haste to get inside. With a gentle pull, the massive steel slab swung inward, revealing a dimly lit concrete corridor descending deep into the earth.
Inside, the sound of muffled voices echoed up the stairwell.
"...the federal freeze is hitting our Swiss accounts," a voice was saying—a voice that sounded chillingly familiar. It was a voice I hadn't heard since the courtroom in San Diego.
It was Colin Vance.
My heart hammered against my ribs. Colin? He was supposed to be locked away in a maximum-security federal penitentiary in Arizona for twenty-five years.
"How the hell did you get out?" Marcus’s voice answered from further down the hall.
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"Money talks, little brother," Colin laughed smoothly. "A federal prison is just another institution run by men who can be bought. The real question is why Ethan Reynolds is still breathing."
I didn't wait to hear another word. I stepped through the threshold, raised my Glock, and strode down the concrete corridor into the belly of the beast.
