Chapter 13 - The Mother of MonstersThe heavy wooden doors of the main mine shaft, which had been chained shut for decades, violently burst outward.
A massive, armored bulldozer—the kind used by SWAT teams for breaching—crashed through the barricade, its headlights blindingly bright, its engine roaring like a mechanical beast. The sheer force of its entrance sent shockwaves through the ground, forcing me to scramble backward to avoid being crushed beneath its steel treads.
The bulldozer slammed into one of Taylor's SUVs, flipping the heavy vehicle onto its roof like a child's toy. The mercenary who had been aiming at me dove out of the way, firing his pistol uselessly against the bulldozer's reinforced glass.
The machine ground to a halt in a cloud of thick, choking red dust.
The heavy steel side door popped open, and a figure stepped out onto the treads.
It was Evelyn Vance.
She was dressed in a pristine, dark woolen coat, looking entirely out of place in the desolate canyon, yet exuding an aura of absolute, terrifying authority. Flanking her were four more men—not generic mercenaries, but Evelyn’s personal, elite security detail.
"Mother?" Taylor gasped, pushing herself up from the dirt, her perfect ponytail ruined, her face streaked with dust and blood. "What are you doing here? I had it under control!"
"You had nothing under control, you foolish girl," Evelyn spat, her voice cutting through the settling dust like a razor. "You let him steal the drive. You let him find out about the Trust. I knew you were too soft to handle this properly."
Evelyn gestured to her men. "Secure the perimeter. Flush the sniper out of those rafters. And bring me Mark."
The dynamic instantly shifted. This wasn't a trap I had set for Taylor anymore. It was a net Evelyn had cast for all of us.
Up on the catwalk, David's rifle cracked again. One of Evelyn’s elite guards stumbled, taking a round to his Kevlar vest, but he didn't go down. Instead, the guards laid down a terrifying volley of suppressive automatic fire toward the catwalk. The rusted metal structure shrieked and sparked under the assault.
"David, get out of there!" I screamed into my radio.
Static. Then, David's strained voice. "I'm pinned, Mark. Get into the tunnels. Go!"
I didn't have a choice. I scrambled to my feet and sprinted toward the gaping hole the bulldozer had made in the mine shaft entrance.
"Don't let him get in there!" Evelyn barked.
I dove into the blackness of the mine just as bullets chipped the stone around the entrance. I hit the damp dirt floor, rolling into the oppressive darkness of the tunnel.
I clicked on my red-lens flashlight. The beam illuminated a claustrophobic, timber-lined tunnel that plunged deep into the earth. It smelled of sulfur and decay.
Footsteps echoed behind me. Heavy boots crunching on stone.
"Mark!" a voice called out, echoing eerily down the tunnel. It was Taylor. She had followed me in.
"You don't want to play hide-and-seek in the dark with me, Taylor," I called out, my voice bouncing off the damp stone walls, making it impossible to pinpoint my location.
"Mother is going to kill us both, Mark!" Taylor yelled, her voice bordering on hysteria. "Give me the drive! If I give it to her, I can buy my way back into her good graces. I can protect you!"
"Protect me?" I laughed, a bitter, hollow sound. "Like you protected Lily? You handed her the padlock!"
"I didn't have a choice!" Taylor screamed, her voice cracking. "Do you think Evelyn ever gave me a choice? From the day I was born, I was just a tool to secure the bloodline! If I defied her, she would have killed me, too!"
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I pressed my back against a wooden support beam, slowing my breathing. The glow of her flashlight swept across the tunnel floor twenty yards away. She was getting closer. And she had picked up one of the fallen mercenaries' pistols.
"You made your choice the day you brought Arthur into my house," I whispered.
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