Chapter 9 - THE SIEGE OF THE TOWER"They're here," Victoria whispered sharply, grabbing Martín’s arm with a grip like iron. "The syndicate's private extraction team. They tracked our signals the moment we opened the ledger."
Martín snapped out of his daze, adrenaline flooding his veins. "How many?"
"At least four professionals, heavily armed with suppressed carbines," Victoria replied, pulling a compact, sleek Beretta pistol from a hidden holster beneath her trench coat and checking the magazine. "They aren't here to negotiate, Martín. If they take us, we vanish, and Lucía is next."
"My daughter," Martín gasped, panic surging through him. "David is taking her through the marina tunnels right now! If these men intercept them—"
"David is a former federal investigator, but he’s fighting a ghost army," Victoria interrupted, pushing Martín toward a heavy steel service hatch in the floor behind the Fresnel lens. "Get down the emergency maintenance ladder. It drops straight down into the sea cave at the base of the cliff. There’s a motorized Zodiac boat waiting in the grotto. Go!"
"I'm not leaving you here!" Martín shouted over the roaring wind.
"You have to!" Victoria yelled, firing a single, deafening shot through the wooden stairwell door as the first shadow appeared in the stair opening. Bang! "Protect the girl! If you die here, Project Genesis falls into the wrong hands forever!"
Heavy automatic gunfire erupted from the stairwell. Splinters exploded from the wooden door as bullets tore through the panels in a deadly hail. Victoria fired twice more into the darkness, driving the attackers back for a precious few seconds.
"Go, Martín! Now!"
Realizing she was right—that his first and absolute priority was keeping Lucía safe—Martín didn't hesitate any longer. He yanked open the heavy steel floor hatch, swung his legs over the edge, and began sliding down the vertical industrial cable ladder into the freezing, echoing darkness below.
The sound of gunfire, shattering glass, and shouting echoed fiercely above him as he climbed down the sixty-foot drop toward the crashing waves.
When his boots finally hit the wet, slippery rock floor of the sea cave, the salty mist hit his face like ice water. Through the mouth of the cave, the ocean surged violently against the jagged rocks, but right there, tethered to a rusted iron ringbolt, was a sleek black Zodiac inflatable boat with its engine idling quietly.
And standing beside the boat, holding a shivering Lucía in his arms, was David Vance.
"Martín!" David yelled over the roar of the surf, handing Lucía into Martín’s arms. "Thank God! Did Victoria hold them off?"
"She's still up there!" Martín shouted back, shielding Lucía against his chest as he climbed into the boat. "We have to get help—call the federal marshals!"
"I already sent an encrypted beacon before we entered the cave," David said, unlashing the mooring rope and jumping into the stern, pulling the starter cord on the outboard motor with a sharp tug. The engine roared to life with a deep, throaty growl.
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As the Zodiac shot out of the dark sea cave into the torrential rain and crashing waves, Martín looked back up at the top of the Blackwood Lighthouse.
Through the pouring rain, a brilliant flash of light—not from lightning, but from an explosion—ripped through the upper lantern room, shattering the glass windows into a million sparkling diamonds that rained down into the dark sea below.
