Chapter 17 - Fire Above the Water
Smoke rolled up the lighthouse stairwell. Vanessa had planted explosives near the road and set a fire in the maintenance building, cutting off the task force's fastest route. Grace grabbed Clara's hand while Vincent tackled Richard. The gun skidded across the floor.
Harold swung his cane at Vincent's head. Grace caught it with both hands and twisted hard. The older man stumbled into a railing. Marco burst through the side entrance and pinned him before he could recover.
“Agent Chen's team is moving on foot,” Marco shouted. “The road's blocked!”
Clara coughed violently. Grace pulled her toward the stairs, but flames climbed from below. The roof hatch was their only way out. Above them, a maintenance cable hung from a rusted pulley, stretching toward a service platform on the rocks.
Grace stared at it. Thirty feet of open air. Then a steep drop to the sea.
“You can't,” Clara whispered.
Grace squeezed her mother's hand. “I've been practicing not being afraid.”
She climbed the iron stairs, tested the pulley, and found the cable surprisingly sound. Vincent removed his belt to help secure Clara to a maintenance seat. Leo had once taught Grace how to balance a two-person load; she remembered every instruction.
“Send her first,” Grace said.
Clara resisted. “I just found you.”
“And I'm not losing you again.”
The seat shot along the cable. Marco caught Clara at the far platform, where Agent Chen's team had reached the rocks. Grace's relief lasted one heartbeat.
Richard Vale lunged from the smoke and seized her wrist. “You think you're better than me?”
“No,” Grace said. “I think I'm nothing like you.”
She broke his grip using a move Daniel had taught her when she was ten, then stepped onto the narrow exterior ledge. Vincent followed, trying to keep Richard away from the open hatch.
An explosion rocked the tower. The ledge gave way beneath Vincent's feet. Grace caught his wrist as he fell, her injured shoulder nearly tearing loose.
“Let go!” he shouted. “You'll fall!”
Grace gritted her teeth. “You don't get to tell me who to save.”
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Below, emergency lights flashed through the smoke. Above, Richard crawled toward the hatch with a second gun.
He raised it at Grace's back.
