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.

satellite feed on her laptop, which was not entirely accurate. She could only devise

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 oxygen left in

his location based on the coordinates he

mine's entrance, which was

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

to blast directly above Percival's position, it could easily trigger

brow furrowed with concern. "Mr. Wolf,

ensure a safe extraction, she had to aim to keep

waiting for me outside, I

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

could hardly contain himself, shouting at the speaker, "Conserve your strength, Percival. We're

"Mr. Wolf, don't speak

I love you." Vivienne bit her lower lip, feeling a surge of emotion as she replied firmly into the headset, "Percival, I

quickly

they must blast through the debris

this was

unstable mine was akin

were Griffin's latest creations, more compact and potent than traditional explosives, resembling grenades but

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

cards-sometimes, a handful could make a minimal impact, and other times, the same number could bring down

to

and Griffin was anything but certain.

Griffin had affectionately bestowed

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

meant risking Percival's life for another. Once her mind was made up, Vivienne would

his throat, but if Vivienne believed it was possible, that was

nod, placing all his

that, Griffin pressed

the air, kicking up a billowing cloud of dust that soared skyward like fireworks before cascading

dust finally settled, Leopold peered into the mouth of the mine to

his comrades held their breath

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

relief swept over the

entrance to the mine was a delicate matter. Using heavy machinery like excavators could have easily triggered a collapse, particularly in Weststart City, which was already scarred by extensive mining. The risk of a ground collapse

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

shovel in hand, rallied the troops.

the Vanguard Agency's special squad began to clear the

another team to haul away

already crunching numbers for the subsequent

distance. His crow's feet crinkled

he muttered to himself, "your

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

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

one of the communication officers said, holding

glanced at it and said, "Turn

"Yes, sir!"

family was in

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

happened to Percival, do you? We just received those threatening letters with knives, and now we

must be tied

his reassuring words, Flynn

that Percival was slated to debut as the Ellington

a critical event, one that demanded Percival's presence. With no idea of his whereabouts,

sofa, Richard broke the silence. "Flynn, you'll stand in as acting chairman. We must minimize the fallout and quell the speculation

bit his lip in hesitation. "Dad, are you sure that's appropriate? Tomorrow's announcement is

it. When Percival returns, he can handle the

I'm concerned