Chapter 14 - The Shipyard at Pier 4
The SUV skidded to a halt on the wet timber planks of Pier 4, ocean spray crashing violently against the pier pillars below. Marcus pulled his weapon, but Clara was already out of the door before he could stop her.
The rain beat relentlessly against Clara's shorn head, washing away the dried blood and plaster dust, leaving her scalp gleaming like wet marble under the industrial harbor lights.
A lone black sedan sat idling by the gangway, its driver’s door flung open, windshield wipers frantically beating back the deluge. Clara climbed the metal steps of the Sea Sovereign’s gangway, Marcus trailing two paces behind, covering the upper deck with his weapon.
The yacht was hollow, echoing with the deep thrum of an auxiliary generator running below deck.
Clara moved down the companionway toward the master communications suite. The door was ajar. A line of blue terminal light cut across the floorboards.
Inside, Eleanor was hunched over the main terminal, her turquoise dress soaked through, her blonde hair plastered to her skull in wet, ragged clumps. She looked like a drowned rat, her trembling fingers frantically jamming a bypass drive into the server port.
A heavy, rusted monkey wrench lay on the console beside her.
""Progress: 68%,"" a synthetic voice echoed from the computer terminal.
""Come on... come on, you stupid machine!"" Eleanor hissed through chattering teeth.
""It won't work, Eleanor,"" Clara said from the doorway.
Eleanor jumped, knocking a chair over, and snatched the heavy iron wrench with both hands. Her face was twisted into a grotesque mask of hysterical madness.
""Stay away from me!"" Eleanor screamed, waving the wrench through the air. ""I built this empire! Julian was supposed to be a senator! We were supposed to rule this coast!""
""You didn't build anything,"" Clara said, stepping slowly into the room, her voice rising above the roar of the ocean outside. ""You crawled into my father’s house like a tick. You stole from his bank accounts. And when you realized Julian was too incompetent to keep the fraud hidden, you tried to butcher me so you could sign my name.""
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""You were nothing!"" Eleanor shrieked, tears and rain mixing down her wrinkled cheeks. ""A weak, pathetic heiress crying over her dead daddy! Julian should have suffocated you three years ago!""
Eleanor lunged forward with all the strength left in her frail body, swinging the heavy wrench directly at Clara’s temple.
