July 16, 2026 – Silas Varga's Ship (Lower Deck)05:41 AM
The water rushing into the ship's hull was already past my knees. As Thomas counted down the final seconds from his submersible with a smile, the hand stretched out before me looked like the only ticket to survival. The woman representing the Broken Sword gave me one last look before putting her helmet back on. "Now, Michael, or we all stay here!"
"Michael, no!" Ivy screamed, struggling to maintain her balance in the water. "You can't trust her!"
I didn't even look at Ivy. Natalia's breath on my back was nearly gone, and Elara, in my arms, had completely given in to the poison. "We have no other choice, Ivy!" I said, and I grabbed the woman's hand.
She pulled me and the unconscious Natalia into the black capsule with surprising force. Ivy lunged in at the last second, clutching Elara tight. As the hatch hissed shut, the ship's hull detonated with a massive roar the moment Thomas pressed his remote.
BOOM!
The underwater pressure shook the capsule like a toy. For a brief moment, the fireball outside glowed like an artificial sun beneath the waves before fading away. Silas Varga's ship was now nothing but a wreck.
The interior of the capsule was dim and high-tech. The woman, named Sena, removed her helmet and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Saving you from this hell was your father's dying wish, Michael. But that notebook in your bag... you really don't know what's inside it, do you?"
I clutched my bag. The bullet in my chest throbbed as if it had shifted. "Thomas said it was a code key. A key to a multi-billion dollar laundering network."
Sena laughed bitterly. "Thomas always forced you to think small. That notebook isn't just a bribery list. It's the only place where the serial number of the bullet lodged in your chest and the ballistic match of the gun Thomas used that night are recorded. Thomas wants that notebook because if that bullet in your heart and that notebook ever come together, it's the end of Thomas Hale."
I turned to look at the unconscious Natalia and the delirious Elara. Ivy was standing in the corner of the room, her back to us, staring out into the darkness through the porthole.
"What about Silas Varga?" I asked. "Where is he?"
"Silas was never on that ship, Michael," Sena said. "From the start, he used holograms and radio tricks to lure you into that trap on Thomas's orders. Thomas knows your 'emotional weaknesses' better than you do."
At that exact moment, the capsule's radar screen began to beep frantically. Thomas's submersible wasn't following us; it had launched a massive net toward us. The capsule came to a sudden halt. Thomas didn't want to kill us; he wanted to catch us like fish.