Chapter 13 - Beneath Hartland
The mining tunnel descended beneath the eastern pasture.
Old rails disappeared into blackness.
Mara moved slowly, one hand pressed against her wound.
Harrison wanted to carry her.
She refused.
“I survived Evelyn because I never let her decide when I stopped moving.”
They reached a junction.
Fresh footprints led in both directions.
Mara studied the wall.
“Left goes to the relay.”
“Right goes to the river exit.”
“She will send someone toward the relay while she escapes.”
Harrison listened.
A metal door slammed to the left.
Water rushed somewhere to the right.
They separated.
Harrison followed the relay tunnel.
Mara moved toward the river.
Harrison found Silas leaning against the communication panel.
Blood covered the bandage around his leg.
He held the detonation transmitter.
“You should have let me bleed in the cabin.”
“You should have left my daughter alone.”
Silas raised the transmitter.
Harrison lunged.
They crashed against the control panel.
The device fell between the rails.
Silas reached for a knife.
Harrison caught his wrist.
They struggled beside an open shaft.
Silas smiled through the pain.
“Evelyn never needed me after tonight.”
“She never needed any of you.”
“You helped her.”
“So did you.”
The accusation landed.
Harrison had signed documents without reading them.
He trusted Evelyn because questioning her would have slowed the ranch.
His carelessness became the doorway she used.
“I did.”
Harrison forced Silas’s hand away.
“And I will answer for it.”
He struck Silas and reached for the transmitter.
The screen showed four minutes.
At the white house, specialists still could not remove Daniel’s device.
Harrison found the relay controls.
Two channels were active.
One connected to Daniel.
The other connected to explosives beneath the auction house.
Evelyn planned to destroy the evidence and every witness.
Only one channel could be interrupted before the system locked.
Harrison had to choose.
Save Daniel.
Or save dozens of families and federal agents.
Silas laughed from the ground.
“Now you understand what power costs.”
Harrison stared at the controls.
Then Lucy’s voice came through his radio.
May you like
“Grandpa, Dad says there is a third switch.”
“He says your father always built another choice.”
