Ready for what happens next? Continue to Chapter Two below.

The force of the initial underwater detonations shook the concrete foundation of Dock 4 so violently that heavy steel beams fell from the ceiling, crashing into the churning, rising water below. The primary power grid shattered instantly, plunging the vast subterranean cavern into near-total darkness, illuminated only by the frantic, pulsing red glare of the emergency strobe lights.

"SAMSON!" Jackson’s voice roared through my earpiece over the deafening sound of rushing water and twisting metal. "THE TUG IS TAKING ON WATER! THE HULL IS CRACKING!"

"CHLOE!" I screamed, turning away from Vance and throwing myself off the command platform railing.

I hit the slick concrete deck thirty feet below, rolling as I struck the floor to absorb the impact, my shoulder screaming in agony as my wound reopened. The icy black water was already knee-deep and rising with terrifying speed, swirling in violent currents as the ocean rushed in through the destroyed sea wall.

General Vance was screaming frantically behind me, trying to climb the collapsing steel structure, but a falling concrete pillar struck the platform, severing the supports and sending the entire steel catwalk tumbling into the deep, dark water.

I didn't look back. I waded through the rushing current, fighting against the crushing drag of the water, charging toward the sinking Chesapeake Trader.

The tugboat was listing violently to its port side, pinned against the crumbling concrete pier by a massive steel beam that had crushed the wheelhouse. Water was cascading over the main deck, pouring into the hatches like a roaring waterfall.

"Jackson! Where is she?!" I yelled, pulling myself onto the tilting, slippery deck of the boat.

Jackson emerged from the torrent of water pouring into the lower companionway, his face covered in diesel grease and blood, hauling the heavy lower hatch open with brute strength against the pressure of the rising water.

"I've got the seal open!" Jackson gasped, his arms shaking from exhaustion. "The frame is bent! It's jammed!"

I threw myself onto the hatch beside him. Together, using every ounce of remaining physical strength in our bodies, we heaved against the warped steel lever. The metal groaned, sparks flying, until with a violent BANG, the lower hatch burst open.

I plunged my upper body into the dark, flooded sub-compartment below.

"CHLOE!"

"DADDY!" Her tiny voice came from the air pocket trapped against the ceiling of the small compartment. She was treading water, her small hands frantically clinging to the silver dog tags hanging around her neck, her eyes wide with unimaginable terror.

I reached down into the icy water, my fingers locking around the harness of her life jacket, and hauled her up through the narrow hatch in one explosive surge, pulling her tight against my chest.

"I've got you! I've got you!" I yelled, wrapping her in my arms as Jackson pulled us both off the sinking deck of the tugboat onto the narrow concrete ledge of the dock's perimeter wall.

Behind us, the Chesapeake Trader groaned one final time, rolled onto its side, and disappeared entirely beneath the black, turbulent water of the flooded dock.

"The main exit doors are sealed!" Jackson shouted, pointing up toward the heavy steel blast doors at the top of the concrete emergency ramp. "Miller locked down the entire facility from the upper control block! We're trapped in this box!"

The water was up to our chests now, cold as ice, threatening to swallow us completely as the structural ceiling began to collapse in massive chunks of concrete.

I looked up through the swirling dust, smoke, and red strobe lights toward the glass observation window of the upper control block. The glass was reinforced, six inches thick, designed to withstand a bomb blast.

"We aren't going through the blast doors, Jackson," I said, my eyes locking onto the heavy industrial crane suspended from the high ceiling directly above our heads—a crane whose massive steel boom pointed straight through the glass window of Miller's observation control room.