LIAM’S POV Kaela went first, descending backward, her weapon trained up the staircase we were leaving behind. I followed, carrying Alexandra, her arms locked around my neck. Her breath came in sharp, pained gasps against my cheek. The stairwell was tight, damp, and echoing with the distant, muffled pop-pop-pop of gunfire from the main house above. The air grew colder, smelling of wet rock and the Pacific. Another contraction hit her. She stiffened in my arms, a silent scream against my shoulder. I stopped, holding her tight until it passed, counting the seconds. Too close. They're coming too fast. "Liam…" she whimpered. "Almost there." I lied, my voice rough. "Just hold on." We burst out of the stairwell into the vast, natural cavern. The roar of the ocean, trapped and magnified by the stone walls, was deafening. The black, angular shape of the submersible waited in the inky water of an underground lagoon, its hatch open. "Get it ready!" I yelled to the technician on the dock.
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