Chapter 10 - The Spark in the Dark
""Nobody gets the money!"" Victor screamed through blood-stained teeth, his thumb hovering over the red switch. ""If I go down, the Sterling Vance foundation burns right here with all of you!""
""Victor, don't!"" Arthur yelled, raising his revolver, but before he could align his sights, Julian swung his heavy brass-tipped cane with all his remaining strength.
The brass weight struck Victor across the temple with a sickening crack. Victor slumped sideways onto the floorboards, unmoving, the red plastic detonator slipping from his limp fingers. But as it hit the wood, the impact jarred the fragile trigger mechanism.
A sharp electronic beep echoed beneath the floor. A tiny red LED light on a block of commercial blasting explosive began to blink in rapid, accelerating intervals.
""Go! Now!"" Julian roared, shoving Arthur and Eleanor toward the narrow steps leading down to the skiff.
Arthur grabbed Chloe’s hand and leaped down into the wooden vessel, catching Eleanor as she scrambled down beside them. Chloe fumbled with the stern mooring line, unhooking it with trembling hands while Arthur yanked hard on the engine pull-cord. The outboard motor sputtered, coughed, and roared to life with a cloud of blue exhaust.
Eleanor reached upward, pleading with her eyes. ""Julian, jump! There's room!""
Julian stood at the edge of the dock, looking down at his sister and the niece he had stolen away in the dead of night two decades ago. He offered a faint, sorrowful smile, his snow-white hair catching the red glow of the blinking explosive.
""Live your life, Clara,"" Julian whispered softly.
Arthur shoved the throttle forward. The skiff shot out of the covered slip into the black, mist-covered water just as a deafening orange fireball ripped through the roof of the boathouse.
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The shockwave knocked Eleanor flat against the bottom of the boat, heat searing the back of their necks as fragments of timber and burning metal rained down into the water around them. The night sky lit up in brilliant crimson, turning the lake into a mirror of fire.
Behind them, the boathouse collapsed into a blazing heap of smoking rubble, sinking slowly beneath the dark surface of the lake.
