Chapter 50 - The Living Shadow
Daniel spun around instantly, raising his weapon, but a sharp crack shattered the silence.
A bullet struck Daniel's shoulder. He groaned, thrown backward against the mahogany desk, his gun clattering across the floor.
"Daniel!" I screamed, dropping to my knees beside him, shielding the baby with my body.
From the dark corridor beneath the stairs stepped a phantom.
Judge Campbell.
He was barely recognizable. His face was a horrific tapestry of second-degree burns from the fort's explosion, his expensive tailored suit replaced by blood-soaked tactical gear. His left arm hung limp at his side, broken and dislocated, but his right hand held a black SIG Sauer pistol with terrifying stability. Saltwater still dripped from the hem of his dark coat onto the clean tile floor.
"You really thought three hundred feet of seawater could kill me, Elizabeth?" Campbell wheezed, his voice bubbling with fluid from punctured lungs. A ghastly, ruined smile stretched across his burned cheeks. "Arthur was a sentimental fool. He thought an old man's suicide could wash away thirty years of blood."
"You dragged Fort Vance into the sea," I snarled, my voice trembling with fury. "You killed Arthur. You killed your own men!"
"Collateral damage," Campbell dismissed coldly, stepping closer, the barrel of his gun trained directly on my forehead. "The fort was compromised the moment Burke brought the federal raid. But this... this room is the true seat of power."
He glanced at the glowing terminal on the desk.
"Arthur’s dead-hand program redirected all the sovereign master keys here. But he added a final spiteful twist. The biometric lockout doesn't respond to my clearance anymore. It demands the biological signature of his direct descendant."
May you like
Campbell took another step forward, his eyes gleaming with mad, predatory triumph.
"Hand me the child, Elizabeth. Place his hand on the console, unlock the Registry, and I might let you bleed out quickly instead of making you watch what I do to him."
