Chapter 10 - Blood on the Bridge
Nikolai crashed into Vanessa with the momentum of a freight train, knocking her hard against the steel navigation console. The plastic explosive pack clattered to the deck between them, the digital timer unyielding in its cold, mechanical march toward zero.
01:12.
01:11.
Vanessa fought with animalistic ferocity. She drove her high heel into Nikolai’s knee, clawing at his face with bloodied fingernails, desperately trying to bring her snub-nosed revolver back into alignment with his temple. ""Die! Die with me!"" she screamed, her mouth filled with blood from her broken nose.
Nikolai grabbed her gun hand, slamming it repeatedly against the iron console until the revolver broke free from her grip and slid across the deck, disappearing into the dark recesses beneath the chart table.
She lunged with her other hand for the dropped detonator on the floor. Her fingers brushed the plastic casing just as Nikolai’s boot came down with crushing force onto her wrist. The bones snapped like dry twigs under the weight of his heel.
Vanessa unleashed an unearthly wail of agony, curling inward on the floor, clutching her shattered arm against her chest.
Nikolai ignored her screams, immediately dropping to one knee before the explosive pack.
00:43.
00:42.
His hands, steady and cold despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins, hovered over the tangled nest of colored wires leading from the digital clock into the blocks of military-grade C4. He wasn't a bomb technician, but decades in the underworld had taught him the basic anatomy of death.
There were three wires: red, blue, and a striped yellow earth ground. A tamper switch was soldered directly onto the circuit board; cutting the wrong lead would complete the circuit instantly.
""Cut it..."" Vanessa gasped through broken teeth from the floor behind him, laughing weakly through her tears. ""Cut the wrong one, Nikolai... kill yourself...""
Nikolai didn't look at her. His eyes darted across the circuitry. Dante’s men were ex-military contractors from the Eastern Bloc. They always bypassed secondary fuses to ensure reliability.
00:19.
00:18.
He reached for the heavy tactical knife sheared off Dante earlier, wedging the sharp blade between the copper leads behind the timer. His heart hammered against his ribs, but his fingers remained as motionless as stone.
""Daddy?""
A tiny voice drifted through the broken bridge doorway. Nikolai’s blood ran cold. Sofia had disobeyed him. She stood on the threshold, clutching her knees, shivering in the freezing rain.
""Sofia! Stay back!"" Nikolai shouted without turning his head.
00:07.
00:06.
Nikolai didn't have time to trace the circuit. He made his choice. He drove the blade down, severing the striped yellow ground wire against the metal plate.
The digital timer blinked once, twice... and went black.
00:02 frozen in red LED silence.
The freighter was still. The only sound was the howling harbor wind and Sofia’s quiet sobs from the doorway. Nikolai let out a breath he felt he had been holding for hours, tossing the knife aside.
He turned toward his daughter, opening his arms. ""Sofia, come here.""
The girl ran into his embrace, burying her face into his wet, soot-covered sweater. Nikolai held her tight, closing his eyes in sheer relief.
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Behind them, a sickening, metallic click cut through the stillness.
Nikolai’s eyes snapped open. Vanessa had crawled across the deck, dragging her ruined wrist, and in her left hand, she had found the snub-nosed revolver, aiming it directly at Sofia’s back.
