Chapter 64 - The Breach of the Lower Decks
The dull, horrific sound of hydraulic torches biting into the hull echoed from the ship’s bilge. Steam hissed through the ventilation shafts as Elizabeth’s specialized black-ops divers began carving their way through the bottom plates.
"Caleb, take the kids to the reinforced panic suite in the stern!" Evelyn ordered, her eyes burning with an unshakable fire. "Marcus, get on the emergency diplomatic channel. Eleanor gave you the Lisbon emergency codes for a reason—use them!"
"Evelyn, I'm not leaving you down here," Caleb shouted, firing his tactical shotgun into the corridor as the first hatch was blown off its hinges by a high-explosive breaching charge.
Two operatives clad in pressurized black carbon armor charged through the smoke, their automatic carbines raised. Evelyn moved with the lethal grace she had honed across a decade of surviving in the shadows. She slid beneath the first man’s line of fire, driving her tactical blade directly into the exposed seal of his oxygen regulator. The operative gasped, stumbling backward as his pressurized suit hissed uncontrollably. Caleb fired twice, neutralizing the second breacher before he could raise his weapon.
"Go, Caleb! Protect our children!" Evelyn yelled through the cordite smoke. "I will buy you ten minutes to seal the safe room!"
Caleb locked eyes with his wife. He knew that arguing with Evelyn when her children's lives were at stake was useless. He nodded once, grabbed the green duffel bag containing the Genesis Key, and dashed toward the upper levels.
Evelyn kicked the fallen operative's carbine into her hands, expertly racking the slide. From the ruptured deck below, five more armored soldiers climbed into the light, their visors reflecting the crimson emergency strobes.
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"Where is the matriarch?" one of the soldiers barked through an electronic vocoder.
"You're looking at her," Evelyn answered coldly, pulling the trigger.
