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.

your exact position and surroundings. I need precise details," Vivienne demanded, staring at the satellite feed on her laptop, which was not entirely

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

pinpointed his location based on the coordinates he

about 0.6 miles from the mine's entrance, which was hardly an ideal spot. The thinness of the

the collapse between his location and the entrance was unknown-they would have to blast through bit by bit to reach him

above Percival's position, it could easily trigger a

"Mr. Wolf, can you hold out for

a safe extraction, she had to aim to keep the rescue

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

could he possibly succumb to the mine's depth

himself, shouting at the speaker, "Conserve

Wolf, don't speak unless it's

movement, then settling back into stillness, "Vivienne, I love you." Vivienne bit her lower lip,

special squad quickly set charges

a passage, they must blast

was a

already unstable mine was akin to dancing with

were Griffin's latest creations, more compact and potent than traditional explosives, resembling grenades but packing a punch far beyond

calculated placement allowed control over the blast radius, which was essential for

handful could make a minimal impact, and other

down to

and Griffin was

Glory" was the moniker Griffin had affectionately bestowed upon the

a flicker of

second meant risking Percival's life for

with Leopold, whose heart was in his throat, but if Vivienne believed it was possible, that was enough

nod, placing all his faith

that, Griffin

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

the dust finally settled, Leopold peered into the

and his comrades held their

Leopold's triumphant voice, "Vivienne, we've got a hole five feet wide

wave of relief

machinery like excavators could have easily triggered a collapse, particularly

they could ensure the stability of the mine's interior and break through the blocked entrance, saving precious time in the

in hand, rallied the troops. "Follow

with their entrenching tools, the Vanguard Agency's special squad began to clear the rubble

led another team to haul

Griffin were already crunching

watched from a distance. His crow's feet crinkled in a mixture of concern and

to himself,

the command vehicle, leaning on his cane, and dialed Rivenwood's headquarters to ensure the

Only with a solid

from headquarters," one of the communication officers said, holding out

it and said, "Turn it

"Yes, sir!"

the Ellington family was

word from Vivienne or Thomas, the

you? We just received those threatening letters with knives, and now we can't reach either of them. What are we going to do?" Imogen said,

"No, Percival must be tied up with his own

reassuring words, Flynn was also anxious

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

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

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

are you sure that's

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

looked worriedly at Richard. "Richard, I'm concerned Percival