Chapter 10 - The Bride in the Service Corridors
Margaret gave Ashlynn a master key card.
Gregory took a ship map from the security console.
They entered another service passage leading toward the bridge.
This time, Gregory walked behind Ashlynn.
Not because she trusted him.
Because she wanted him where she could see his reflection in the metal walls.
The passage vibrated beneath their feet.
Announcements instructed passengers to remain in their cabins due to a navigational problem.
The voice was calm.
The danger was not.
At the first junction, Ashlynn heard footsteps.
She pulled Gregory into a supply alcove.
Two guards passed.
One carried restraints.
The other spoke into a radio.
“Target is moving toward the bridge.”
Gregory looked at Ashlynn.
“How do they know?”
She examined the wedding veil.
A small tracking device had been stitched near the comb.
She tore it free.
Gregory stared.
“My mother arranged your dress.”
“She arranged everything.”
Ashlynn placed the tracker inside a laundry cart headed toward the lower decks.
The guards followed the signal.
They continued upward.
At the next stairwell, Gregory stopped.
“My father’s office is one deck below.”
“We don’t have time.”
“He keeps physical backups.”
“Of what?”
“Every transaction he doesn’t trust to computers.”
Ashlynn studied him.
William had built his empire through blackmail. Physical evidence would provide more than flight logs.
It could identify officials, shipping agents, and buyers involved in the trafficking network.
They had two choices.
Reach the bridge immediately.
Or collect the evidence capable of destroying the entire organization.
A radio message sounded through the corridor.
“Navy interception in eleven minutes.”
Ashlynn made the decision.
“Show me the office.”
Gregory led her down one level.
The private office door required a palm scan.
He placed his hand on the reader.
Access denied.
Ashlynn noticed a faint line of dried blood near the panel.
Someone had already tried.
“Your brother?” Gregory asked.
“Maybe.”
Ashlynn removed a thin metal piece from her pearl earring and opened the panel.
Gregory watched her bypass the lock.
“Was that in your sealed file too?”
“No. That was my mother.”
The door opened.
Inside, shelves displayed family photographs, ship models, and military awards William had never earned.
A steel safe stood behind the desk.
Gregory entered a code.
Wrong.
He tried Margaret’s birthday.
Wrong.
Then Ashlynn looked at the baseball bat.
A faded serial number was engraved near the grip.
Gregory entered it.
The safe opened.
Inside were passports, cash, account ledgers, and a second microdrive.
On top lay a photograph of Logan in restraints.
Behind him stood the three Marines officially declared dead eight years earlier.
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All three were alive.
👉 Ashlynn had spent years mourning her team—but William had kept them alive because they knew where the trafficked families were hidden.
