The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Vivienne’s icy gaze locked onto Micah across the room, her eyes sharp and piercing with an almost palpable intensity.

Micah remained silent for a few heartbeats before switching off the intercom.

The voice that had been calling his name fell abruptly silent.

“I need to know,” Micah’s voice cut through the tension. “Do you have a solid plan to extract Percival safely?”

In that instant, an almost spectral aura of authority emanated from Micah, a remnant of the times he had battled through the most harrowing situations.

Thomas and Leopold, standing nearby, were momentarily taken aback.

Micah had been their drill instructor back in the day. Since becoming the deputy director, the formidable presence he once commanded seemed to have diminished.

They had all assumed that Micah was past his prime, a paper pusher with graying hair.

But they were wrong. He had merely cloaked his ferocity beneath a guise of geniality, letting the years mellow his exterior.

Vivienne’s gaze never wavered from Micah, shadows flickering in her eyes as she spoke with a gravity that brooked no argument, “Percival is the love of my life.”

That single declaration held more weight than any promise could.

“He’s the love of my life. How could I possibly leave him to face danger alone?”

Hearing Vivienne’s resolute and unequivocal statement, Micah turned to issue orders, “Leopold, take Vivienne to the coordinates. Thomas, get to Soren immediately and have him report the mine’s internal status!”

“No need,” Vivienne interjected, pulling up a satellite map on her tablet. It showed the interior of the mine with a faint red dot marking Percival’s location.

Hovering near Vivienne, Thomas voiced his concern, “Ma’am, the air is thin inside the mine. We don’t know how much oxygen the captain has left, and we can’t reach him.”

Vivienne understood the urgency. “Does he have his headset?”

“He does, but we’ve lost contact. It seems a signal jammer is at play inside. No telling how long he can hold out,” Leopold added quickly.

“As long as he has it,” Vivienne said, retrieving a device resembling a Bluetooth speaker from Griffin’s gearbox and connecting it to a laptop screen.

As soon as she activated it, all the headsets of the Vanguard Agency agents in the vicinity lost their signals.

Even the command vehicle where Micah sat was suddenly bereft of any communication.

“What’s going on? Another virus?” Micah asked, bewildered.

“No.” Vivienne typed in a sequence of codes, and a prompt appeared on the laptop screen. “Leopold, what’s Mr. Wolf’s public channel code?”

“0001.”

Vivienne entered the code, and a faint sound of breathing immediately came through the speaker.

Everyone was startled, and Micah looked at Vivienne incredulously, at a loss for what had happened.

Vivienne put on a headset and said, “Mr. Wolf, can you hear me?”

After a brief pause, a voice came through, “Vivienne?”

“Holy smokes, it’s Percival!” Leopold exclaimed, “Vivienne, you’re a miracle worker!”

Micah, too, grasped the principle behind Vivienne’s communication with Percival.

She had redirected all communication signals to focus solely on her and Percival’s devices, turning the Bluetooth speaker into a targeted signal transmitter.

By inputting Percival’s code, she could funnel all communication directly to the disconnected headset.

Micah’s look of admiration towards Vivienne deepened.

“Mr. Wolf, give me your exact position and surroundings. I need precise details,” Vivienne demanded, staring at the satellite feed on her laptop, which was not entirely accurate. She could only devise an effective rescue plan with absolute certainty of Percival’s whereabouts.

location, “I’m in a temporary shelter within the mine. There’s some air left here, and I found a cave for cover, but I’m not sure how long it will hold. I’ve got thirty percent

location based on the coordinates he

was about 0.6 miles from the mine’s entrance, which was hardly an ideal spot.

between his location and the entrance was unknown—they would have to blast

to blast directly above Percival’s position, it could

furrowed with concern. “Mr. Wolf, can you hold out for

extraction, she had to aim to keep the rescue operation

you’re waiting for me outside, I

to the mine’s depth when

speaker, “Conserve your strength,

“Okay.”

tone was stern, “Mr. Wolf,

his voice muffled by movement, then settling back into stillness,

bit her lower lip, feeling a surge of emotion as she

special squad quickly set charges at the mine

they must blast through the

this was a

explosives in an already unstable mine was

Griffin’s latest creations, more compact and potent than traditional explosives, resembling grenades

them apart was their precision. Carefully calculated placement allowed control over the blast radius, which was essential for

minimal impact, and

to how you played your

real-world conditions, and Griffin was anything but

was the moniker Griffin had

studied the intricately calculated layout, not a flicker of doubt in her gaze. “Detonate,”

Percival’s life for another. Once her mind was made up, Vivienne would not

throat, but if Vivienne believed it was

nod, placing all his faith

Griffin

the air, kicking up a billowing cloud of dust that soared skyward like fireworks before cascading down

settled, Leopold peered into the mouth of the mine to

his comrades held their breath

we’ve got a

wave of relief swept

easily triggered a collapse, particularly in Weststart City, which was already scarred by extensive mining. The risk of a ground

Glory,” they could ensure the stability of the mine’s interior and break through the blocked entrance, saving precious time

hand, rallied

entrenching tools, the Vanguard Agency’s special squad began to clear the rubble at the

to

already crunching numbers for the subsequent

from a distance. His crow’s feet crinkled in a mixture

to himself, “your

way to the command vehicle, leaning on his cane, and dialed Rivenwood’s headquarters to ensure the logistic support

out. Only with a solid

one of the communication officers said, holding out Micah’s

glanced at it and said, “Turn

“Yes, sir!”

the Ellington family

no word from Vivienne or Thomas, the entire family

knives, and now we can’t reach either of them. What

expression was grim. “No, Percival must be tied up with his

despite his reassuring words, Flynn was also

to debut as the Ellington family’s heir the

that demanded Percival’s presence. With no idea of his whereabouts, what

must minimize the fallout and quell the speculation

bit his lip in hesitation. “Dad, are you sure that’s appropriate? Tomorrow’s

having no one,” Richard cut in. “You’ll do it. When Percival returns, he can handle the

Richard. “Richard, I’m concerned Percival

Richard took a deep breath, stood up, and returned