The Million-Dollar Heart

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.

staring at the satellite feed on her laptop, which was not entirely accurate. She could only devise an effective rescue plan with absolute certainty

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

pinpointed his location based on the coordinates

was hardly an

was unknown-they would have to blast through bit by bit to reach

they were to blast directly above Percival's position, it could easily trigger a secondary

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

extraction, she had to aim to keep the rescue operation within

came through with a chuckle. "If you're waiting for me outside, I can hold out for twenty

the mine's depth

shouting at the speaker, "Conserve your strength, Percival. We're

was stern, "Mr. Wolf, don't speak

then settling back into stillness, "Vivienne, I love you." Vivienne bit her lower lip, feeling a surge of emotion as she replied firmly into

Vanguard Agency's special squad quickly set charges at the mine

a passage, they must blast through the debris blocking

was a

already unstable mine was akin

compact and potent than traditional explosives, resembling grenades but packing a punch far beyond the standard

calculated placement allowed control

minimal impact, and other times, the same number

down to how you played

untested in real-world conditions, and Griffin was anything but certain. "Vivienne," she cautioned, "the 'Morning Glory' is still untested. This is

the moniker Griffin had

not a flicker

life for another. Once her

whose heart was in his throat, but

a firm nod, placing all his faith in

Griffin pressed

of ten explosions ripped through the air, kicking up a billowing cloud of dust that soared skyward

dust finally settled, Leopold peered into the mouth of the

held

voice, "Vivienne, we've got a hole five feet wide and thirty feet

of relief swept over the

machinery like excavators could have easily triggered a collapse, particularly in

"Morning Glory," they could ensure the stability of the mine's interior and break

shovel in hand, rallied the troops.

Vanguard Agency's special squad began to clear the rubble at the

led another team to

already crunching

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

he muttered to himself, "your daughter is

way to the command vehicle, leaning on his cane,

would wear anybody out. Only with a solid supply chain could they keep the rescue

of the communication officers said, holding out Micah's relentlessly buzzing

at it and said, "Turn it

"Yes, sir!"

the Ellington family was in

Percival missing and no word from Vivienne or Thomas, the entire family was

you don't think something's happened to Percival, do you? We just received those threatening letters with knives, and now

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

his reassuring words, Flynn was also anxious

the Ellington family's heir the next day, facing shareholders

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

the fallout and quell the speculation about Percival and Vivienne's absence. If need be, tell

that's appropriate? Tomorrow's announcement is

cut in. "You'll do it. When Percival returns, he can

I'm concerned Percival might take this