Chapter 12 - The Brother on the Bridge
The maintenance shaft opened beneath the bridge communications station.
Ashlynn heard William speaking above them.
“Navy vessel approaching from starboard.”
Another voice answered.
Logan.
“False distress signal is ready.”
Ashlynn climbed quietly through the access panel.
Gregory remained below.
William stood near the captain’s chair holding a pistol.
The ship’s captain and two officers were restrained near the navigation console.
Logan sat at the communications terminal.
A dark bruise marked his temple.
His hands hovered over the controls.
William looked toward the ocean.
“Transmit.”
Logan did not move.
William pressed the pistol against the captain’s shoulder.
“Transmit.”
Ashlynn rose behind a console.
Logan saw her reflection in the dark screen.
His face changed.
Only slightly.
Enough.
He pressed a key.
William smiled.
Then the screen displayed:
SIGNAL CANCELED.
William turned.
Logan drove his elbow into William’s wrist.
The pistol fell.
Ashlynn crossed the bridge before William could recover.
She struck his forearm with the bat, knocking him away from the weapon.
Gregory emerged through the access panel and kicked the pistol beneath the navigation console.
William stared at his son.
“You chose her.”
Gregory looked at Ashlynn.
“No. I chose not to become you.”
William lunged toward the captain.
Logan intercepted him.
The brothers—one biological, one connected by marriage—held William against the console while Ashlynn freed the captain.
“Correct the course,” she ordered.
The captain returned to the controls.
The false radiological warning had been canceled, but the Navy vessel still approached.
The ship’s communications remained partially blocked.
Logan explained that William’s private guards controlled the engine room and could force another turn.
Ashlynn showed him the damaged satellite transmitter.
“Can you repair it?”
Logan examined the casing.
“The antenna is broken.”
“Use the bridge array.”
William laughed from the floor.
“The moment you upload those files, every hostage location changes.”
Logan’s expression tightened.
William continued.
“Marcus Bell was moved yesterday. Ryan Tate is aboard a ship with no registered flag. James Holloway has a daughter now.”
Ashlynn stepped closer.
“You’re lying.”
“Can you risk it?”
That was William’s power.
Not weapons.
Uncertainty.
Logan whispered, “I have a rescue protocol.”
“What protocol?”
“For eight years, I built a network among port workers and former intelligence officers. If the full ledger becomes public, they move every identified survivor immediately.”
“Will it work?”
“I don’t know.”
William smiled.
“You will kill them with your courage.”
Ashlynn looked at the upload controls.
Then at the man who had once forced her to choose between truth and her brother.
She refused to make the same choice again.
“Send the rescue protocol first,” she said.
Logan began typing.
May you like
William’s smile disappeared.
👉 Ashlynn had finally found a way to expose William without abandoning his hostages—but someone else aboard the ship was about to stop the transmission.
