Chapter 66 - The Parley on the Atlantic
The sudden violent lurch sent the remaining invaders tumbling through the fractured corridors. Seizing the opening, Evelyn sprinted up the iron staircase, sealing the blast door behind her and locking the magnetic bolts. She burst into the wheelhouse, breathing hard, her tactical uniform singed by flash-powder, to find Caleb and the children safe behind the reinforced glass.
"Mom!" Sophie cried, throwing her small arms around Evelyn's waist. Evelyn dropped her weapon instantly, falling to her knees and wrapping all four children in an ironclad, trembling embrace.
"I’m here, my loves. I'm right here," she whispered, kissing each of their foreheads.
Suddenly, the ship's long-range radar began to howl.
"Look at the radar screen," Marcus said, pointing a shaking finger toward the tactical display. "It’s not just Elizabeth's vessel anymore."
From the western horizon, two massive silhouettes appeared on the thermal imaging scanners. Guided-missile destroyers bearing the flags of the International Maritime Coalition were closing in at full military speed. Marcus had successfully transmitted Eleanor's emergency diplomatic accord to the Portuguese and British naval commands.
The black behemoth submarine realized its tactical window was rapidly slamming shut.
The radio crackled back to life. Elizabeth’s voice was no longer smug; it was laced with venomous rage. "You think a pair of coalition patrol frigates can protect you from me, Evelyn? You think you can raise those four children in peace?"
Evelyn walked directly to the radio transmitter, clicking the talk button with steady, unyielding determination. "Elizabeth, listen to me very carefully. You spent forty years hiding in the dark because you were terrified of your sister's strength. Eleanor didn't defeat you with torpedoes—she defeated you because she built a family that would fight to the death for one another. You have machines. I have blood. And if you ever surface within a hundred miles of my children again, I won't just lock the Genesis Key... I will destroy it, and let your black fleet starve in the abyss."
A suffocating silence hung over the frequency for ten agonizing seconds.
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"This is not a victory, Evelyn," Elizabeth whispered, her voice dropping into a terrifyingly cold whisper. "The Genesis Key is tied to their eighteenth birthdays. Until then, you are merely keeping my empire warm."
With a massive displacement of black water, the monstrous carbon submarine vented its ballast and dove steeply beneath the waves, vanishing into the abyss before the approaching coalition destroyers could lock their targeting systems.
