Chapter 37
CHAPTER 37 — THE RUNAWAY HEIRS
Before Victoria’s men could fire, Anna Carter threw a heavy, discarded smoke canister at the base of the pedestal. The room filled with dark gray fog once more.
"Go! Go!" Alexander yelled, grabbing Claire and Lily and shoving them toward the emergency exit stairs that led down to the fortress’s sea-level boat docks.
They sprinted down the spiral stone stairs, the sound of boots echoing closely behind them. Victoria’s voice boomed down the stairwell via the emergency intercom.
"There is nowhere to run, Claire! The world is our laboratory. You cannot hide a child whose blood is worth more than oil!"
They reached the lower dock, where a twin-engine tactical speed boat was tied to the concrete slip. The freezing Atlantic waves crashed violently against the hull.
Alexander jumped in first, firing up the engines, while Anna helped Claire and Lily climb aboard.
"Anna, come on!" Claire shouted, extending her hand as the boat began to drift from the dock.
Anna looked back at the heavy steel door of the stairwell, which was already beginning to buckle under the weight of Victoria’s commandos. She shook her head, a peaceful, definitive expression on her face.
"They’ll track the boat if they think all of us are on it," Anna said, her eyes welling with tears as she smiled at Lily. "I’m the maid's child, remember? I know how to disappear into the wallpaper of this fortress and trip the manual scuttling switches. Take care of our girl, Claire."
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"Anna, no!" Lily cried out, reaching her small arms across the widening gap of water.
Anna slammed the emergency lock on the dock door from the inside, sealing herself in with the advancing commandos. Alexander slammed the throttles forward, and the speedboat roared out out into the pitch-black, foggy ocean, leaving the exploding fortress behind.
