CHAPTER 8 – The Ship of Forgotten Witnesses
CHAPTER 8 – The Ship of Forgotten Witnesses
The steel container doors slammed against the walls.
For a heartbeat, no one moved.
Then the prisoners stumbled into the corridor.
Some shielded their eyes from the emergency lights.
Others could barely stand.
Several wore bandages stained with old blood.
One elderly man collapsed to his knees the moment he stepped out.
A teenage girl clutched his arm.
"Dad..."
"It's okay..."
But nothing about this was okay.
Celeste counted quickly.
Twenty-three people.
No.
Twenty-four.
Twenty-four witnesses.
Every one of them wore an electronic restraint around one wrist.
Their expressions weren't those of criminals.
They were terrified.
The countdown continued.
02:11
02:10
The mechanical voice echoed through the cargo hold.
Leo looked at the prisoners.
Then at Celeste.
"We can't save them all."
She looked back at him.
"Don't ever say that again."
For a moment, Leo saw the same commander he had followed eight years earlier.
The woman who had refused to abandon twenty-three sailors beneath a collapsing ship.
Nothing had changed.
Ava Kim lowered her pistol.
"I opened the container because they deserve a chance."
Rachel's words echoed in Celeste's memory.
Someone inside Project Trident had been leaking information.
Could it have been Ava?
Celeste kept her eyes on her former teammate.
"If you wanted them dead..."
"...you wouldn't have released them."
Ava didn't answer.
Her silence was answer enough.
The prisoners looked at Celeste with confusion.
One middle-aged woman stepped forward.
"Are you... military?"
Celeste nodded once.
"My name is Commander Celeste Ashford."
"I'm getting you out."
The woman stared.
Her eyes widened.
"Ashford?"
Celeste frowned.
"You know my name?"
The woman laughed bitterly.
"I've been hearing it for fifteen years."
Arthur.
Victor.
Ashford Maritime.
Ashford Defense.
Ashford Logistics.
"They said your family owned everything."
She looked around the ship.
"They weren't exaggerating."
Leo moved toward the control panel mounted near the bulkhead.
He quickly removed the cover.
Rows of blinking wires.
Military encryption.
Biometric locks.
He cursed.
"They've tied the bomb into the navigation system."
"Can you stop it?"
"Not alone."
Ava stepped beside him.
"I can."
Leo looked at her.
"You know the system?"
"I designed it."
Silence.
Celeste stared.
"You..."
Ava closed her eyes.
"I built the software."
"I never knew what they planned to use it for."
The countdown reached:
01:43
Outside, explosions echoed across the pier.
The battle was still raging.
The masked commander had vanished.
Admiral Reed's voice crackled over Celeste's secure radio.
"Commander!"
"Status?"
"We found civilians."
"How many?"
"Twenty-four."
A pause.
Then Reed answered quietly.
"We're coming."
"No!"
Celeste replied immediately.
"The deck is mined."
"You'll trigger the sensors."
Another pause.
"What do you need?"
"Ten minutes."
"You have less than two."
"I know."
Arthur Ashford stood on the pier surrounded by federal agents.
Against every order, he had come.
Rachel Morgan turned toward him.
"You should be evacuating."
Arthur ignored her.
His eyes remained fixed on the cargo ship.
"My daughter is in there."
Rachel studied him for a moment.
The arrogant billionaire from earlier that evening was gone.
Now he looked like...
A father.
Inside the ship...
One elderly prisoner slowly approached Celeste.
His face looked familiar.
Very familiar.
She searched her memory.
Then it struck her.
She had seen him before.
In newspapers.
On magazine covers.
He was...
Senator Henry Caldwell.
One of the most influential lawmakers in Washington.
Officially...
He had died three years ago in a private plane crash.
Celeste whispered,
"You're supposed to be dead."
The senator smiled sadly.
"So was your friend."
Every prisoner suddenly began speaking at once.
"They told the world we disappeared."
"They faked my death."
"I've been here four years."
"They erased my family."
"They changed my identity."
"They're doing it to hundreds of people!"
Celeste felt her blood run cold.
Hundreds?
Ava interrupted.
"The bomb isn't the real problem."
Celeste looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
Ava typed rapidly across the control panel.
"They're deleting the archive."
"What archive?"
Ava looked directly into Celeste's eyes.
"The database."
"The real one."
"The one containing every name..."
"...of every person Project Trident has ever erased."
Leo stopped working.
"If that server goes..."
"...those people disappear forever."
"No records."
"No proof."
"No justice."
The countdown continued.
00:58
Suddenly—
One prisoner screamed.
"They're here!"
Everyone turned.
At the far end of the cargo hold...
Five masked soldiers emerged from the darkness.
They hadn't come from outside.
They'd been hiding inside the ship all along.
The leader calmly removed his helmet.
It wasn't the commander from the pier.
It was someone else.
An older man.
Silver hair.
Sharp blue eyes.
Perfect military posture.
Admiral Reed froze when he saw the security camera feed.
"No..."
Rachel looked at him.
"You know him?"
Reed's face had gone completely pale.
"I buried him."
The older man smiled calmly.
"Good evening, Nathaniel."
Even through the radio...
Reed recognized the voice instantly.
General Marcus Holloway.
Former Chairman of the Joint Strategic Command.
Officially deceased...
Twelve years earlier.
Killed in a helicopter crash.
Or so the world believed.
General Holloway looked toward Celeste.
"So..."
"You're the famous Commander Ashford."
"I've heard so much about you."
Celeste stepped forward.
"You built Project Trident."
He smiled.
"No."
"I perfected it."
The countdown reached:
00:39
Holloway slowly clasped his hands behind his back.
"You think this ship matters?"
"You think your father's empire matters?"
He laughed softly.
"You still don't understand the scale."
Celeste narrowed her eyes.
"What scale?"
Holloway's smile widened.
"Project Trident doesn't belong to your father."
"It doesn't belong to the Navy."
"It doesn't even belong to this country."
Silence.
Then he delivered the sentence that changed everything.
"It exists..."
"...on every continent."
The cargo hold fell silent.
Leo stopped breathing.
Ava lowered her head.
Even the prisoners stared in disbelief.
Holloway continued.
"Governments."
"Corporations."
"Private militaries."
"They all contribute."
"They all benefit."
"And tonight..."
He glanced at the countdown.
00:21
"...you've only uncovered the smallest corner of the machine."
Then he looked directly at Celeste and smiled.
"Tell me, Commander..."
"When your own family is only a pawn..."
May you like
"Who do you plan to fight next?"
END OF CHAPTER 8
