Chapter 15 - The Edge of the Horizon
The Bridgeport private terminal was a maze of steel shipping containers and towering gantry cranes swaying violently beneath the force of the gale. At the end of the commercial slipway, a low-slung, high-speed black interceptor vessel—a custom craft Julian's maritime logistics firm used for offshore security—sat idling against the pilings, its twin turbine engines humming with violent potential.
Julian slammed the SUV into park beside the slipway, leaping from the vehicle and sprinting down the wooden dock through sheets of horizontal rain. Two of his maritime captains were already casting off the heavy mooring lines.
""Mr. Vance!"" Captain Evans shouted over the roar of the wind. ""The freighter cleared the harbor limits eight minutes ago! They’re entering international waters where Coast Guard jurisdiction gets complicated!""
""I don't give a damn about international waters,"" Julian shouted, vaulting over the gunwale and landing heavily on the reinforced deck. ""Get us alongside that hull.""
The interceptor lurched forward, carving through the black, churning waves of the Long Island Sound with bone-jarring velocity. Salt spray blasted across the windshield as the vessel accelerated to fifty knots, chasing the distant, receding navigation lights of the rogue cargo ship.
Through the night-vision binoculars mounted on the center console, Julian locked onto the silhouette of the freighter. On the stern deck, illuminated by the harsh glare of a single yellow work light, a tall man in oilskins stood holding a reinforced composite transit case, staring back toward the pursuing craft. Keller.
Beside Julian, the vessel's communications console crackled to life with high-priority static. Marcus’s voice broke through, distorted by the weather but urgent.
""Julian! We just pulled the telemetry data from Arthur’s encrypted drive! Keller isn't trying to smuggle the child abroad!""
Julian grabbed the receiver, his knuckles white. ""What is he doing, Marcus?!""
May you like
""He has a remote detonator linked to the freighter’s ballast tanks! If he gets intercepted, he’s scuttling the entire ship with everyone on board!""
Julian dropped the radio, his eyes fixing on the figure standing at the railing of the freighter, watching as Keller raised a small, handheld transmitter high above his head, his finger resting directly upon the blinking crimson switch."
