CHAPTER 165
The alarms weren't just standard security warnings - they were something else entirely, a specific pattern that made Lucas stop dead in his tracks as we moved through the compound's corridors toward the extraction point.
"That's not an evacuation alarm," he said, his face going pale as he recognized the signal. "That's a facility destruction sequence."
"What?" Harry spun around, his weapon raised as if he could shoot the sound itself.
"Henry's got the compound rigged to self-destruct. Probably to destroy evidence if law enforcement ever found this place." Lucas was already pulling up building schematics on his tablet, his fingers flying over the screen. "We've got maybe eight minutes before this entire castle comes down."
I felt our daughter kick sharply against my ribs, as if she understood that we were in mortal danger. Around us, the ancient stone walls seemed to vibrate with whatever explosives Henry had hidden throughout the structure.
"Can you disable it?" Jax asked, but Lucas was already shaking his head.
"Not remotely. The system's hardwired to prevent exactly that kind of interference. Someone would have to physically access the detonation controls."
"Where are the controls?"
"According to these schematics... the basement level. Right in the center of the compound."
Through the facility's PA system, Henry's voice echoed with what sounded like his final moment of triumph. "Did you really think I'd build an empire without insurance against exactly this kind of betrayal? You have seven minutes to reach minimum safe distance. I suggest you run."
"Bastard's willing to kill his own people to take us with him," Harry snarled.
"No," I said, understanding Henry's psychology better than any of them. "He's counting on us trying to save the remaining victims. He knows we won't abandon innocent people, even to save ourselves."
Lucas's tablet was showing the compound's layout with red indicators marking areas that were still occupied. Despite our evacuation efforts, there were at least thirty people scattered throughout the facility - guards who'd been wounded in the firefight, victims who were too traumatized to move, medical personnel who were treating the injured.
"We can't get everyone out in seven minutes," Jax said grimly.
"Then we stop the detonation," I replied, already moving toward the stairwell that led to the basement levels.
"Skylar, no." All three of them spoke simultaneously, moving to block my path.
"You're not going down there," Harry said firmly. "Not pregnant, not injured, not under any circumstances."
"I'm the only one who knows Henry's personal security codes," I lied smoothly. "The detonation controls will be protected by biometric scanners and access codes that only family members would know."
"You don't know that."
"I know Henry. He's been planning this moment for decades, and he'd want to ensure that only someone with Mitchell blood could access his final failsafe."
It wasn't entirely true, but it was plausible enough that they couldn't dismiss it immediately. More importantly, it bought me the seconds I needed to reach the stairwell.
"Five minutes!" Henry's voice boomed through the speakers. "I do hope you're using this time to say your goodbyes."
I started down the stone steps, my pregnancy making me careful but not slow. Behind me, I could hear the guys arguing in urgent whispers about whether to follow me or try to evacuate more victims.
"Lucas, get to the helicopter and coordinate final evacuations," I called back. "Harry, Jax, with me. If I'm wrong about the biometric locks, I'll need your technical skills."
The basement level was a maze of corridors that had probably been used as dungeons when the castle was first built. Now they housed mechanical systems, storage areas, and at the very center, a reinforced chamber that looked like it had been designed to withstand a nuclear attack.
"There," I said, pointing to the heavy steel door marked with warning symbols in multiple languages. "That's got to be where the detonation controls are housed."
"Four minutes," Henry announced cheerfully.
The door was indeed secured with biometric scanners, but not the kind that required Mitchell family DNA. Instead, it needed retinal scans and palm prints from authorized personnel.
"I can't bypass this," Jax said after examining the security system. "These aren't electronic locks we can hack - they're mechanical systems that require physical access codes."
"Then we find another way in," I said, studying the reinforced walls around the chamber.
"Skylar," Harry's voice was gentle but urgent, "we need to consider the possibility that Henry designed this to be unsolvable. That the only way to win his game is not to play."
"You want us to abandon thirty innocent people?"
"I want our daughter to have at least one living parent."
The weight of his words hit me like a physical blow. He was right - if we died trying to stop the detonation, our child would be orphaned before she was even born.
But if we escaped and let those thirty people die, she'd grow up knowing that her parents had chosen their own survival over innocent lives.
"Three minutes."
I pressed my hands against the steel door, feeling the slight vibration of whatever machinery was counting down to destruction behind it. Somewhere in that chamber, Henry had built the ultimate expression of his control - the ability to destroy everything he'd created rather than let it fall into other hands.
But he'd made one critical error in his planning.
He'd assumed that the Mitchell family legacy was something worth preserving.
"I've got an idea," I said, pulling out the knife I'd used to pin Henry's hand to his desk. "But you're not going to like it."
"What kind of idea?" Jax asked suspiciously.
"The kind that requires someone to stay behind and manually hold the detonation switch open while everyone else escapes."
"Absolutely not."
"It's not a suggestion. It's the only way to save those people and give our daughter a chance to grow up."
"Two minutes."
Through the facility's communication system, I could hear Lucas coordinating the final evacuation, his voice tight with the knowledge that time was running out.
"There has to be another way," Harry said desperately.
"There is," I replied, looking at the faces of the three men I loved more than life itself. "But it requires you to trust me one more time."
As I explained what I had in mind, I watched their expressions shift from horror to understanding to the kind of determined acceptance that had gotten us through every impossible situation we'd ever faced.
"One minute."
And I realized that love wasn't just about being willing to die for someone.
Sometimes it was about being willing to let them make the choice to die for you.
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