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.

here, and I found a cave for cover, but I’m not sure how long it will hold.

based on

from the mine’s entrance, which was hardly an ideal spot. The thinness of

entrance was unknown—they would have to blast through bit by bit to reach

position, it

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

aim to keep the rescue operation within a two-day

you’re waiting for me outside, I can hold out for twenty

depth when he had not yet married his beloved

speaker, “Conserve your

“Okay.”

Wolf, don’t

thing,” Percival said, his voice muffled by movement, then settling

her lower lip, feeling a surge of emotion as she replied firmly into the headset, “Percival,

quickly set

a passage, they must blast through the debris

was

mine was akin to dancing

potent than traditional explosives, resembling grenades but packing a punch far beyond

control over the

were like a deck of cards—sometimes, a handful could make a minimal impact, and other times, the same number could bring

came down to how you

untested in real-world conditions, and Griffin was

had affectionately

flicker of doubt in her

a second meant risking Percival’s life for another. Once her mind was made up,

throat, but

a firm nod, placing all his faith

that, Griffin pressed the

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

finally settled,

comrades held their

got a hole five feet wide and thirty

wave of relief swept over

entrance to the mine was a delicate matter. Using heavy machinery like excavators could have easily triggered a collapse, particularly in Weststart City, which

with the “Morning Glory,” they could ensure the stability of the mine’s interior and break through the blocked entrance, saving

rallied the troops. “Follow my

Agency’s special squad began to clear the rubble

to

and Griffin were already crunching numbers for

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

he muttered to himself, “your daughter

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

out. Only with a

the communication officers said, holding out Micah’s relentlessly

glanced at it and

“Yes, sir!”

Ellington family was

and no word from Vivienne or Thomas, the entire family

just received those threatening letters with knives, and

must be

his reassuring words, Flynn was

Percival was slated to debut as the Ellington family’s heir the next day,

Percival’s presence. With

sofa, Richard broke the silence. “Flynn, you’ll stand in as acting chairman. We must minimize the fallout and quell the speculation about Percival and Vivienne’s absence. If need

hesitation. “Dad, are you sure that’s appropriate? Tomorrow’s announcement is

Richard cut in. “You’ll do it. When Percival returns, he can

at Richard. “Richard, I’m concerned Percival might take this

for it.” Richard took a