Chapter 10 - Blood on the Parquet
The ship cut through the churning waters of the Atlantic, leaving the city lights far behind in the misty distance. Deep within the lower utility deck, Julian checked his weapons. ""Marcus, take the engine room. If things go sideways, I need you to kill the main drive and disable their communications array.""
Marcus nodded, his jaw set grimly. ""Give me ten minutes. What about the girl?""
""Clara stays in the maintenance locker until I clear the upper saloon,"" Julian said.
""No,"" Clara countered firmly, meeting his cold gaze without flinching. ""The server room requires two simultaneous biometric inputs to unlock the primary partition. Eleanor has one. The second belonged to your brother—which means Eleanor must have copied his thumbprint or retinal scan onto an override chip. I saw where she hid her personal case in the master stateroom.""
Julian hesitated for a split second before nodding. ""Stay behind me. If I say drop, you hit the deck.""
They ascended the narrow spiral staircase toward the vessel's opulent living quarters. The transition from industrial steel to polished mahogany and gold-leaf trim was abrupt. The muffled sound of classical music drifted from the observation lounge down the corridor.
Two guards stood outside the double doors of the stateroom. Julian moved like a wraith through the shadowed hallway. Before either guard could register the wet footsteps, Julian closed the distance. He grabbed the first guard by the back of his tactical vest, slamming his skull into the bulkhead with bone-cracking force, while simultaneously sweeping the legs out from under the second man. A brutal elbow to the temple silenced the second guard permanently.
Julian searched the bodies, tossing a spare pistol to Clara. ""Cock it, point, pull the trigger. Never hesitate.""
May you like
Clara took the gun with steady hands. ""I won't.""
They pushed through into the master suite, only to find the room ransacked. On the central king-sized bed lay Eleanor, bound to the bedposts, bleeding from her temple, and gasping for air.
