Chapter 13 - Boarding the Leviathan
A black tactical zodiac boat sliced through the choppy waves of the outer bay, keeping its engine low to evade the radar sweeps of the departing freighter.
Julian crouched at the bow, dressed in dry black tactical fatigues provided by Eleanor’s hidden cache. His mind was razor-sharp, his heart cold iron. Lily was safe under Marcus’s guard at a fortified private clinic; the only remaining task in Julian Vance’s life was extermination.
"Thorne’s private security on that ship consists of thirty former military contractors," Eleanor shouted over the roar of the wind, steering the small craft toward the massive steel hull of The Leviathan. "They have heavy machine guns, biometric security doors, and the bridge is reinforced with blast armor. If we get caught on the open deck, they’ll chew us to pieces."
"Then we don't use the deck," Julian replied.
As the zodiac matched the speed of the massive ship, Julian fired a pneumatic grappling hook toward the freighter’s midship gantry. The magnetic anchor clamped onto the rusty hull with a dull thud.
Julian clipped his ascender to the motorized wire. "You take the lower engineering decks. Disable their propulsion. I’m going for the bridge."
"Julian," Eleanor called out before he engaged the motor. "Thorne has to stand trial. The international tribunals need his testimony to dismantle the entire syndicate."
Julian looked down at her with eyes colder than the ocean depths. "You take your justice, Eleanor. I’m taking mine."
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He triggered the ascender, his body rocketing up the sixty-foot steel wall of the freighter into the dark, roaring storm. He cleared the railing in three seconds, rolling onto the catwalk just as a patrol guard rounded the corner.
Before the guard could raise his weapon, Julian closed the distance, snapping the man's neck with a single, fluid twist of his arms. Julian took the fallen guard's suppressed submachine gun, checked the breach, and kicked open the bulkhead door leading into the belly of the beast.
