Chapter 10 - The Island Where Everyone Had Something to Lose
The island looked beautiful from the air.
Pine trees.
Rock cliffs.
Gray Atlantic water.
A mansion near the center.
People should not be allowed to do evil in places that scenic.
It confused the branding.
Federal agents established a perimeter offshore.
Matteo, my mother and I remained on the command boat.
That was the plan.
Then Grant's tracker went dead.
The team lost interior cameras.
Radio interference began.
My mother examined signal behavior.
“Lantern countermeasures.”
“Can we bypass?”
“Maybe.”
I smiled.
Matteo groaned.
“Both of you say maybe too much.”
“Family trait.”
First time I called it that.
My mother noticed.
Said nothing.
We discovered the island communication system drew from an old submarine cable.
Physical line.
I could access it from a maintenance landing.
Agents protested.
Matteo protested louder.
I ignored both with professional consistency.
We went ashore with tactical escort.
Inside the maintenance building, I found the feed.
Vincent had isolated the mansion electronically.
Cutting one fiber path allowed agents to inject their own control signal.
Cameras restored.
On-screen, Grant stood inside the library.
His son sat beside Vincent.
Alive.
Terrified.
Grant had placed his weapon on the floor.
Vincent smiled.
No audio.
My mother restored that too.
“...you always were loyal,” Vincent was saying.
Grant's voice shook.
“Let him go.”
“After you do one thing.”
“What?”
“Kill Matteo.”
Grant went still.
Vincent believed Matteo would come for him eventually.
Grant was supposed to be the final betrayal.
Matteo watched from the monitor.
No reaction.
That hurt more.
Grant said:
“He trusted me.”
Vincent laughed.
“Exactly.”
Grant looked at his son.
Then at the weapon.
He bent.
Picked it up.
My stomach tightened.
Matteo whispered:
“Grant.”
Of course Grant couldn't hear.
He raised the gun.
Then turned it on himself.
Vincent's smile vanished.
“No!”
Grant said:
“If I die, you lose your leverage.”
His son screamed.
Tactical team moved immediately.
Glass shattered.
Agents entered.
Grant dropped the gun.
He had never intended to shoot.
Just create the opening.
Vincent grabbed the child.
Moved toward a concealed door.
We saw him disappear underground.
My mother recognized the route.
“Tunnels.”
“Where?”
“Power station.”
Of course.
I was already moving.
Matteo caught my arm.
“No.”
“He's going somewhere with electrical infrastructure.”
“And armed men.”
“Then bring armed men.”
He stared.
Fair compromise.
We entered the tunnel with agents.
The underground system led toward an old generator bunker.
Vincent stood inside.
Grant’s son beside him.
One hand around the boy.
Other holding a remote.
Not a gun.
Worse.
My mother froze.
“Lantern release key.”
Vincent smiled.
“Anna.”
She stepped forward.
“Let him go.”
“You all keep saying that.”
The remote had two buttons.
One likely release.
One maybe dead man's trigger.
I examined the power architecture.
The bunker housed a satellite uplink.
If Vincent transmitted, our theater shutdown would not matter.
“Matteo,” Vincent said.
“Come closer.”
Matteo did.
“Not her.”
He stopped.
Vincent looked at me.
“Do you understand yet?”
“I understand you're exhausting.”
“You and Matteo are the only viable successors.”
“No.”
“Lantern cannot simply disappear.”
“Yes, it can.”
“You think secrets disappear because servers burn?”
He had a point.
Copies existed.
People remembered.
Information networks were human before digital.
“You need custodians.”
“We need laws.”
Vincent laughed.
“So innocent.”
“I'm thirty and self-employed. Nobody has called me innocent since tax season.”
His face tightened.
Good.
Keep him emotional.
Keep him talking.
I noticed one cable from the satellite controller running into a floor conduit.
Separate power conditioner.
If I killed that conditioner without dropping room power—
the remote would transmit nowhere.
I moved slightly.
Vincent noticed.
“Stop.”
I stopped.
Matteo saw where I was looking.
His eyes shifted once.
He understood.
Then he stepped toward Vincent.
“Take me.”
Vincent smiled.
“Matteo—” I started.
He raised one hand.
“No.”
He looked at Vincent.
“You wanted a successor.”
“Yes.”
“You have one.”
“Finally.”
“But the boy leaves.”
Vincent considered.
Then pushed Grant's son toward an agent.
The moment the child moved, Matteo lunged.
Vincent pressed the remote.
I kicked the conditioner disconnect.
Sparks exploded.
Satellite uplink died.
Nothing transmitted.
Vincent stared at the dead remote.
Checkmate.
Matteo knocked him to the floor.
For one second, Matteo could have killed him.
I saw it.
Vincent saw it.
Maybe even wanted it.
Matteo raised his fist.
Then stopped.
He looked at me.
Lowered his hand.
Federal agents arrested Vincent Caruso alive.
That was how the old world ended.
Not with an execution.
With a man choosing not to become his father.
But as agents dragged Vincent away, he laughed.
“You think I was the last one?”
Matteo stared.
Vincent looked at my mother.
She went pale.
“There is another Lantern custodian.”
“Who?” I asked.
Vincent smiled.
“Ask Anna why she never told you who your father really was.”
May you like
And just like that—
my mother stopped breathing.
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