Chapter 5
Darkness swallowed us.
For half a second, nobody moved.
Then gunfire cracked in the black.
Someone screamed.
I hit the deck as bullets tore through crates above me.
Water jugs burst.
Liquid sprayed my face.
Cross shouted, “Down!”
Red emergency strips flickered on low along the floor.
Shapes moved.
Kane was gone.
Of course he was.
The hatch was sealed.
The second room was open.
And somewhere inside Deck Four, Kane’s loyalists had cut power and started shooting.
Captain Ruiz crawled toward me.
“You hit?”
“No.”
My ribs screamed, but that was old pain.
Graves lay near a crate, hands over his head.
Cross dragged him behind cover.
“Recorder?”
Graves patted his chest.
“Still here.”
Another shot hit the wall.
Ruiz grabbed a radio.
“Bridge, this is Actual. Override Deck Four locks.”
Static.
No answer.
Kane had jammed internal comms.
Cross looked at me.
“Can you move?”
“Yes.”
“Can you fight?”
“Yes.”
Ruiz stared at both of us.
“You two know something I don’t.”
I pulled myself up.
“There’s a second room. Kane uses it for records and transfers. If he’s running, he’s going there.”
Cross nodded.
“I found servers.”
Ruiz’s face hardened.
“He has a private system on my ship?”
“He has a private empire,” I said.
We moved low through the red-lit dark.
Ortiz’s voice suddenly came from the other side of the hatch.
“Mercer!”
I ran to it.
“Chief!”
“Stand clear!”
Metal struck metal.
Again.
Again.
He was trying to cut through the manual lock.
Behind him, other voices shouted.
Not Kane’s men.
Crew.
Sailors.
Marines.
People who had finally seen enough.
Ruiz raised her voice.
“This is Captain Ruiz! Secure Colonel Kane’s loyalists and restore ship communications!”
From the other side, Ortiz yelled, “Aye, Captain!”
The words hit me harder than expected.
The ship was waking up.
Kane still had men.
But fear had cracked.
Cross led us into the second room.
It was colder inside.
Rows of equipment blinked on backup battery.
A desk.
A safe.
Hard drives.
Printed manifests.
Photos.
And on the far wall, a board of names.
Eli’s name was there.
So were seven others.
Two sailors.
Three Marines.
One civilian contractor.
One corpsman.
Deaths marked as accident, heatstroke, fall, suicide, transfer.
My stomach turned.
Kane had not killed once.
He had practiced.
Ruiz whispered, “God forgive me.”
I looked at her.
“You knew people were afraid.”
“Yes.”
“You knew supplies were missing.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my brother’s death was wrong.”
Her face crumpled.
“I suspected. I let command politics slow me down. I told myself I needed proof before accusing a decorated colonel.”
I pointed at the wall.
“There’s your proof.”
A sound came from behind the server rack.
Click.
I turned.
Kane stood with a pistol pointed at Ruiz.
His face was calm again.
“You always were too soft, Elena.”
Cross aimed.
Kane shifted behind Ruiz.
“One more step and the captain dies.”
Ruiz lifted her chin.
“You shoot me, you hang.”
Kane laughed.
“You think courts scare me? I have files on admirals, contractors, senators. You think water was the product? Water was the test.”
Cross’s jaw tightened.
“What test?”
“How easily desperation can be manufactured.”
My blood went cold.
Kane looked at me.
“Deny water. Create crisis. Move supplies through private channels. Sell relief. Build dependency. Scale it across deployments.”
“You starved sailors for a business model,” I whispered.
“I hardened weak systems.”
“You murdered my brother.”
“He found the model before it was ready.”
I took one step.
Cross hissed, “Mercer.”
Kane’s eyes glinted.
“There she is.”
The ship shuddered.
The lights flashed back on.
Kane flinched.
Just enough.
Ruiz drove her elbow back into his ribs.
Cross fired once.
The bullet struck Kane’s shoulder.
His pistol clattered away.
I moved before anyone stopped me.
I tackled him into the desk.
Papers flew.
He hit the floor with me on top of him.
I wanted to break him.
I wanted my brother back.
I wanted him afraid in the way Eli had been afraid.
Instead, I pressed his face to the deck and held him there while Cross cuffed him.
Kane laughed through the pain.
“This isn’t over.”
May you like
I leaned close.
“For you, Colonel, it finally is.”
