Chapter 3 - Eight Minutes Before the Tide
The tunnel narrowed until Amelia had to turn sideways to move between the stone wall and the rusted ore cart. Noah supported Daniel while Amelia held the red flashlight low. Behind them, Richard advanced slowly, firing only when he had a clear angle.
He was not panicking anymore.
That frightened Amelia more than the gun.
Richard was at his most dangerous when he became quiet. She had seen it in boardrooms when executives challenged him. She had seen it at home when servants made mistakes. His anger never exploded. It condensed.
The seawater reached Amelia’s ankles.
Noah pointed toward a circular maintenance hatch in the floor. “Down there.”
Daniel stared at it. “That goes toward the sea.”
“It goes beneath the cliff and opens inside a cove.”
“With her?” Daniel nodded toward Amelia’s stomach.
Amelia answered before Noah could. “We go.”
A bullet struck the ore cart. The impact rang through the tunnel.
Noah forced the hatch open. Cold air rushed upward, smelling of kelp and diesel. A ladder descended into darkness.
Daniel went first despite his wound. Amelia followed. Her ankle nearly failed when she put weight on the first rung, but Noah steadied her from above. The ladder shook as Richard reached the chamber.
“Amelia,” he said.
She looked up.
He stood twenty feet away, his white shirt marked with the pilot’s blood. The gun hung loosely at his side.
“You are hurt,” he said. “You are confused. Let me help you.”
The absurdity of it almost made her laugh.
“You pushed me out of a helicopter.”
Richard glanced at Noah. “He has filled your head with lies.”
“The flight audio is already uploaded.”
For the first time, fear touched his face.
Then he smiled. “Uploaded where?”
Amelia did not answer.
Richard raised the gun.
Noah kicked the hatch release. The heavy steel cover dropped between them as Richard fired. The bullet struck the metal with a deafening clang.
They descended.
The passage below was half flooded. They moved through chest-deep water while waves surged from the far end. Daniel’s face had gone pale. Noah kept one arm beneath his shoulder. Amelia used the wall to stay upright.
Her bracelet vibrated.
Signal lost. Data transfer paused.
She looked at the tiny screen and felt a fresh wave of dread. The initial alert had transmitted, but she did not know how much evidence had reached the servers. The audio file might contain Richard’s words. It might contain only rotor noise.
Noah saw her expression. “What is it?”
“The beacon lost connection.”
“It will reconnect outside.”
“If we get outside.”
The water rose to her ribs.
Behind them, the hatch groaned.
Richard was forcing it open.
They reached a fork. The left tunnel sloped upward. The right descended into black water.
Noah hesitated.
“You do not know which way?” Amelia asked.
“The cliff changed after an earthquake.”
Daniel leaned against the wall, breathing hard. “Listen.”
They stood in silence.
From the left came the faint rhythm of helicopter rotors.
From the right came waves.
“Left,” Amelia said.
Noah shook his head. “The sound may be traveling through the rock.”
A gunshot echoed from behind.
They chose left.
The tunnel climbed steeply, forcing them to crawl. Amelia’s knees scraped against stone. The pain in her abdomen sharpened. She tried not to imagine blood. She tried not to imagine a tiny heartbeat slowing inside her.
Ahead, daylight appeared.
Daniel laughed once, weakly.
Then Noah stopped.
The opening ended twenty feet above a narrow cove. There was no path down. Only a rotting wooden platform and the remains of an old winch.
A small fishing boat floated near the rocks below.
A woman stood at the controls.
She looked up and shouted, “Jump!”
Amelia recognized her.
It was Claire Bishop, Richard’s chief financial officer.
The same woman who had warned Amelia two weeks earlier not to sign a revised life insurance trust.
Noah lowered Daniel first using the old winch cable. The rope groaned but held. Claire caught him in the boat.
Amelia went next.
Halfway down, the cable snapped.
She fell the final six feet and landed against the deck. Pain flashed white through her body. Claire grabbed her before she rolled into the water.
Noah jumped after her.
A second later, Richard appeared at the tunnel opening and fired.
The bullet struck the boat’s windshield.
Claire slammed the throttle forward.
The engine coughed.
Then died.
Richard aimed again.
Noah pulled a flare gun from beneath the seat and fired toward the cliff. The flare struck the wooden platform, igniting old oil and dry rope. Flame erupted between Richard and the opening.
Claire turned the ignition again.
The engine started.
The boat surged from the cove just as burning timber collapsed into the water.
Amelia looked back. Richard stood behind the flames, watching them escape.
He raised his phone to his ear.
Claire saw him too.
“He is calling the Coast Guard,” she said.
“For rescue?” Daniel asked.
May you like
Claire shook her head.
“No. He is calling the man who owns the rescue contract.”
