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.

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

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

pinpointed his location based on the coordinates he

0.6 miles from the mine's entrance, which was hardly an

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

Percival's position, it could easily trigger a

Wolf, can you hold out for two

extraction, she had to aim to keep

through with a chuckle. "If you're waiting

the mine's depth

shouting at the speaker, "Conserve your strength,

was stern, "Mr. Wolf, don't speak unless it's absolutely

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

Vanguard Agency's special squad quickly set charges at

carve a passage, they must

was

explosives in an already unstable mine was

compact and potent than traditional explosives, resembling grenades but

placement allowed control over the blast

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

down to how you

in the early stages of development, untested in real-world conditions, and Griffin was anything but certain.

Glory" was the moniker Griffin had affectionately

studied the intricately calculated layout, not a flicker of doubt in her

for a second meant risking Percival's life for another.

a glance with Leopold, whose heart was in his throat, but if Vivienne believed it

all

Griffin pressed

succession of ten explosions ripped through the air, kicking up a billowing cloud of dust that soared skyward like fireworks before cascading

dust finally settled, Leopold peered into the mouth

comrades held their breath

we've got a hole five feet wide

relief swept over

matter. Using heavy machinery like excavators could have easily triggered a collapse, particularly in Weststart City, which was already scarred by extensive mining. The

could ensure the stability of the mine's interior and

shovel in hand, rallied the

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

to haul away the

were already crunching numbers for the subsequent

distance. His crow's feet

he muttered to himself, "your

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

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

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

it and

"Yes, sir!"

family

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

knives, and now we can't reach either of them. What are we going to do?" Imogen said, visibly

grim. "No, Percival must

words, Flynn was also anxious

the Ellington

Percival's presence. With

chairman. We must minimize the fallout and quell the speculation about Percival and Vivienne's absence. If need be, tell the world they're abroad on

that's appropriate? Tomorrow's announcement is crucial. If I

no one," Richard cut in. "You'll do it. When Percival returns, he can handle the rest. End

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