Chapter 38 - The Fortress on the Piscataqua
The helicopter touched down on the tarmac of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard amid a howling northern squall.
Portsmouth was a fortress of steel, drydocks, and nuclear submarine maintenance bays, surrounded by the churning, freezing waters of the Piscataqua River. The moment the skids touched the concrete, we were met by a perimeter of heavily armed Shore Patrolmen.
Standing in the shelter of the main communications bunker was none other than my mother, Eleanor Mercer, wrapped in an expensive cashmere overcoat, flanked by corporate attorneys and two Navy security guards.
Seeing her here, hundreds of miles from the Mercer estate in Virginia, sent a shock of bitter adrenaline through my veins.
"Evelyn," Eleanor spoke as I hopped down from the helicopter bay into the wind-driven rain, Nathan trailing right behind me. Her face was pale, tight with controlled panic. "Stop this madness. You've destroyed Marcus. Bradley is facing life in federal penitentiary. Do you really want to drag the entire family into the dirt?"
"The family put itself in the dirt the day you traded military guidance systems for blood money, Mother," I replied, not breaking my stride as I marched toward the bunker entrance.
"You don't understand!" Eleanor hurried beside me, her voice cracking with desperation. "Admiral Howell guaranteed us total immunity! If you expose him, the government will seize every trust, every acre of Timber Ridge, every penny your grandfather ever earned! You will be an orphan with nothing!"
"I was an orphan the day my parents chose treason over their own daughter," I said, stopping to look Eleanor dead in the eye. "And I don't need your blood-soaked inheritance. I have my uniform. I have my honor. That is something you and Marcus never owned."
Eleanor froze, the rain soaking through her expensive cashmere, her face crumbling as she realized her aristocratic authority had no power left over the daughter she had cast out.
"Let her pass," Captain Reid’s voice boomed behind us as a detachment of federal marshals stepped up, presenting Eleanor’s lawyers with immediate freeze orders for every Mercer asset across three states.
May you like
I didn't look back as we breached the double blast doors of the primary communications bunker.
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