Chapter 12: Return to the Black Water
The Valiant Crown left Baltimore under heavy fog.
Mercer had disabled its identification system and placed explosives near the engine compartments.
If the Navy approached visibly, he would detonate the ship.
So we entered quietly.
Grant and I boarded through a maintenance hatch while the vessel passed beneath the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
Elena coordinated from shore.
Admiral Reed remained aboard a naval command vessel beyond Mercer’s detection range.
Inside the cargo ship, the air smelled of diesel and rust.
Every corridor reminded me of the Black Meridian.
My scars tightened beneath my uniform.
Grant noticed.
“You can stay here,” he whispered.
“No.”
“You do not always have to be the one who walks into the fire.”
“I know.”
But this time, there were hostages.
And I was their commander whether they wore my uniform or not.
We reached the lower cargo deck.
Crates of stolen technology filled the hold.
Grant located the explosive control system.
Mercer had connected it to a biometric trigger.
If his heartbeat stopped, the ship would explode.
Killing him was not an option.
Capturing him would require keeping him alive and conscious.
We freed six crew members from a locked compartment.
One told us Mercer had taken Hannah Reed to the bridge.
Another warned that the engine room was flooding.
The ship had been damaged intentionally.
Mercer wanted it to sink after he escaped.
I divided the freed crew into teams.
Grant would disable the explosives.
I would reach the bridge.
“Celeste,” he said before we separated.
“What?”
“I was jealous of you.”
I almost laughed.
“You helped ruin my life because you were jealous?”
“Father hated you, but he feared you. He never feared me.”
“You spent your whole life trying to earn the love of a man who could not love anyone.”
Grant nodded.
“I know that now.”
We moved in opposite directions.
I climbed toward the bridge.
Gunfire echoed below.
Grant’s voice came through my radio.
“Mercer’s men found us.”
Then the radio went silent.
I reached the upper deck and saw Hannah tied beside the navigation console.
Mercer stood behind her.
“You look like Elias,” he said.
“You knew my father?”
“I watched Arthur kill him.”
My breath caught.
Mercer smiled.
“Elias Ward did not drown. Arthur buried him beneath the foundation of the first Vale Maritime terminal.”
May you like
He lifted the master key.
“And your mother helped me hide the body.”
