Chapter 12 - Fire in the Dark
Julian moved instantaneously. He snuffed the flashlight with one hand and shoved Maya down onto the cot behind the thick cast-iron flank of the dormant turbine pump. He drew the .45 from his waistband, his thumb smoothly depressing the safety catch with an almost imperceptible mechanical click.
""Stay flat,"" he breathed against her ear, his voice barely a vibration. ""Do not move, no matter what happens.""
From the upper catwalk twenty feet above the concrete floor, a voice drifted down—raspy, wet, and filled with venomous malice. Marcus had wrapped his wounded shoulder in black duct tape, visible in the faint amber glow rising from the wood stove. He was standing on the metal grating of the catwalk, holding a compact submachine gun in his good hand, his eyes scanning the darkness below.
""You always were predictable, Julian,"" Marcus called out, his boots taking slow, deliberate steps along the iron grate. ""The old family pumping station. It was listed in the physical asset archives you filed during the Series B funding five years ago. You really think I wouldn't cross-reference every square foot of land your family owned within a ten-mile radius?""
Julian remained motionless in the deep shadow of the turbine, calculating the angle. Marcus had the high ground, but the darkness was Julian’s only ally.
""You're bleeding out, Kane!"" Julian shouted, throwing his voice toward the far brick wall to disguise his exact position behind the pump. ""The federal marshals have Pier 42 locked down. You have no extraction route!""
Marcus let out a dry, hacking laugh that ended in a cough. ""The federal marshals work with the data I feed them, Julian. Right now, they believe you murdered Maya Lin at the docks, took her body, and fled here. Once I eliminate both of you, I walk out through the river conduit, board a private vessel, and the algorithm is delivered to Zurich by dawn. You take the blame for the breach, the murder, and the treason. A neat little bow on your pathetic legacy.""
Marcus suddenly unpinned a cylindrical flash-bang canister from his harness and dropped it blindly over the railing into the center of the room.
Julian saw the metallic cylinder tumbling through the air. He threw himself entirely over Maya’s body, clamping his hands over her ears and pressing his face into her hair.
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BANG.
An incandescent flash of white magnesium and a concussive shockwave ripped through the pumping station, shattering the remaining window panes and filling the air with a blinding, disorienting roar. The deafening ringing in Julian’s ears was immediate, his equilibrium violently knocked off balance. But he didn't wait for his vision to clear. He rolled off Maya, raised his weapon toward the catwalk railing where he remembered Marcus standing, and emptied the remainder of his magazine into the gloom above.
