Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29: THE LOWER DECKS
"Securities! Secure the girl!" Arthur roared, throwing his champagne glass to the floor.
Before the two armored mercenaries could grab me, a heavy flashbang grenade shattered through the balcony glass from below. The blinding explosion rocked the deck. Marcus Vance materialized through the smoke, his silenced pistol firing two rapid shots into the mercenaries' chests.
"Valeria! Move! The server room is on the lower deck, section four!" Marcus shouted, grabbing my hand as we sprinted away from the panicked screams of the ballroom crowd.
We raced down the spiral staircase, deeper into the bowels of the mega-yacht. The luxury wood and gold trim vanished, replaced by cold industrial steel walls and the deafening roar of the ship's massive engines.
We reached the vault door of section four—a massive, reinforced titanium wall with a digital biometric lock that required a five-digit master override code.
"The system is locking down because of the virus!" Marcus said, slamming his hand against the console. "We have less than three minutes before the backup generator cuts the power, which will permanently activate Sofia's micro-explosive as a safety fail-secure!"
I ripped the hacking device from my thigh, slamming the cables into the maintenance port beneath the lock. The screen blurred with millions of code combinations.
"Come on... come on..." I prayed, my sweat dripping onto the steel floor.
The screen flashed red: ACCESS DENIED. FINAL ATTEMPT.
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Suddenly, the heavy steel door behind us hissed. I spun around, raising my compact pistol. Standing at the end of the narrow corridor, flanked by four heavily armed guards, was Arthur Pendelton. The gold-plated cane he held was gone, replaced by a sleek, black submachine gun.
"You’re clever, Valeria," Arthur said, his voice echoing off the steel walls like a death knell. "But you forgot one fundamental rule of global logistics. The ship always has a captain."
