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.

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

"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

pinpointed his location based

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

the collapse between his location and the entrance was unknown-they would have

Percival's position, it could easily trigger a secondary

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

ensure a safe extraction, she had to aim

with a chuckle. "If you're waiting for me outside, I

he possibly succumb to the mine's depth when he had not yet married

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

"Mr. Wolf,

love you." Vivienne bit her lower lip, feeling a surge of emotion as she replied

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

passage, they must blast

was

in an already unstable mine was akin to

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

allowed control over the blast radius, which was essential for this

could make a minimal impact, and other times, the same number

down to how you

conditions, and Griffin was anything but certain. "Vivienne," she cautioned, "the 'Morning Glory' is

was the moniker Griffin had

intricately calculated layout, not a flicker of doubt in her gaze. "Detonate,"

meant risking Percival's life for

Leopold, whose heart was in his throat, but if Vivienne

a firm nod, placing all

Griffin pressed the

billowing cloud of dust that soared skyward like fireworks before

shielded their faces with their arms, and when the dust finally settled, Leopold peered into the mouth

comrades held their

got a

of relief swept

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

ensure the stability of the mine's interior and break through the blocked entrance, saving

shovel in hand, rallied

the Vanguard Agency's special squad

led another team to haul away the

were already crunching numbers for

crow's feet crinkled in a mixture of concern and

to himself,

vehicle, leaning on his cane,

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

have a call from headquarters," one of the communication officers

it and said, "Turn

"Yes, sir!"

family was

from Vivienne or Thomas, the entire family was on the brink

just received those threatening letters with knives, and now we can't reach either of them. What are we going to

"No, Percival must be

despite his reassuring words,

real issue was that Percival was slated to debut as the Ellington family's heir the next day, facing shareholders

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

must minimize the fallout and quell the speculation about Percival and Vivienne's

"Dad, are you sure that's appropriate? Tomorrow's announcement is

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

worriedly at Richard. "Richard, I'm concerned Percival might take this