July 16, 2026 – Hudson River 04:50 AM
The massive metal hook slamming onto the deck shattered the night's silence like breaking glass. While Miller clung to the helm, trying to keep the flooded engine alive, a black-masked figure lunged out of the water and climbed aboard. He was one of Thomas's Reapers; his suppressed weapon was locked directly onto my bag—onto the notebook.
"Natalia, get down!" I shouted.
I drew my gun and fired twice. The bullets were absorbed by the man's armored vest, but the impact was enough to push him back into the water. But that wasn't the only problem. The drone explosion beneath us had ripped a massive hole in the hull. The freezing water of the Hudson was already up to our ankles.
"Michael, the boat is sinking!" Ivy screamed. She was trying to pull the wounded Natalia up by her arms. "We're not going to make it!"
Miller pointed to the giant cargo ship burning on the horizon. "That's Hale's flagship! 'The Leviathan'. If Elara is alive, she's in the central cabin within those flames. But to get there, we have to sacrifice this boat!"
Miller shoved the throttle all the way forward and tied a weight to the helm. "Jump now! When the boat hits the ship's hull and explodes, we'll use the resulting chaos to climb aboard!"
"What about you?" I asked Miller.
"I'm going to pay your father's debt, kid," Miller said, a strange sense of peace in his eyes despite years of exhaustion. "Now go and take your sister from that demon!"
Ivy, Natalia, and I threw ourselves into the dark river seconds before the boat detonated. Moments later, Miller's boat slammed into the side of 'The Leviathan' with a deafening roar. A massive fireball surged into the sky, shaking the ship like a cradle.
When I breached the surface, I began swimming toward the emergency ladders on the side of the ship. I felt the weight of the notebook in my bag with every stroke. When I reached the deck, the air was thick with smoke and the smell of gunpowder.
On the upper balcony, a figure emerged through the flames. Elara... My sister was watching the fire below with vacant eyes. But there was someone else behind her. Thomas Hale, holding a remote control.
Thomas saw me. He smiled and raised the remote. "Just in time, Michael. Look, the hourglass is almost full. If you don't toss that notebook up here right now, this ship will go up with a bigger bang than your father's grave."