The train screamed against the rails.
Every carriage shook violently as the emergency brakes fought against the momentum.
Emily wrapped one arm around a support pole while Victoria held onto her with her good arm.
No one spoke.
They could all see it now.
The tracks ended less than two hundred meters ahead.
Beyond them...
Nothing.
Only darkness.
The wheels sparked as metal scraped against metal.
The speed dropped.
One hundred kilometers per hour.
Ninety.
Seventy.
Still too fast.
Walker gritted his teeth.
"Come on..."
The front carriage reached the damaged section.
For one terrifying second, it felt as though the entire train was about to leave the tracks.
Instead, it lurched violently to the left.
The first carriage stopped with its front wheels hanging over the edge of a collapsed tunnel.
Silence.
Then the second carriage slammed into the first.
Everyone was thrown to the floor.
Victoria instinctively shielded Emily with her own body.
Glass shattered.
Lights exploded overhead.
The train finally came to a stop.
Half of the first carriage hung suspended over an endless drop.
Emily slowly opened her eyes.
"Is everyone okay?"
Walker groaned from the floor.
"I've been better."
Gabriel helped Father Michael to his feet.
Luca checked the rear of the train.
"We're alive."
Victoria looked around.
"Volkov."
He was gone.
A side door near the front carriage stood open.
Cold air drifted through it.
Emily knelt beside it.
"He escaped."
Victoria looked out into the darkness.
A narrow maintenance bridge stretched across the collapsed tunnel.
"He couldn't have gone far."
Walker joined them.
"He knows these tunnels better than we do."
Emily looked at Victoria.
"We finish this."
Victoria nodded.
"Together."
They crossed the narrow bridge in silence.
Water dripped from the ceiling.
The tunnel opened into an enormous underground chamber.
Old subway platforms surrounded a circular control room built of steel and glass.
On the wall above the entrance, one word was painted in faded white letters.
ECLIPSE
Volkov stood alone in the center of the room.
He wasn't armed.
He simply waited.
"You made it."
Victoria stepped forward.
"It's over."
Volkov smiled.
"Not yet."
He reached into his coat.
Emily immediately raised her pistol.
Instead of a weapon...
Volkov removed an old silver pocket watch.
He opened it.
Inside were two tiny photographs.
One showed a young Alessandro Moretti.
The other...
Victoria's mother.
Victoria stared in disbelief.
"My mother..."
Volkov looked at the picture for a long moment.
"I loved her."
The words echoed through the chamber.
No one moved.
Emily slowly lowered her weapon.
Victoria's voice barely rose above a whisper.
"What did you say?"
Volkov closed the watch.
"I loved her long before your father married her."
Tears filled Victoria's eyes.
"You killed her."
Volkov's expression changed.
For the first time since anyone had met him...
He looked haunted.
"I never wanted her to die."
Silence fell over the chamber.
Emily exchanged a glance with Walker.
For the first time...
The story they thought they knew was beginning to unravel.
And Victoria realized that the final truth about her family was still waiting to be uncovered.