Chapter 5 - Fire on the Water
The red digital timer on the explosive counted down from thirty seconds.
Mark did not hesitate for a single fraction of a second.
He grabbed Elena by the waist and sprinted toward the edge of the yacht's deck.
"Take a deep breath," he yelled over the howling wind.
They threw themselves over the railing just as a massive fireball ripped through the hull of the boat.
The explosion sent a shockwave across the water, shattering the windows of nearby warehouses.
Mark and Elena plunged into the freezing, dark waters of the harbor.
Elena gasped for air as she broke the surface, the heat from the burning yacht scorching her wet face.
Mark swam toward her and helped her cling to a floating piece of wooden debris.
Sirens began to wail in the distance as emergency services responded to the blast.
They paddled desperately to the wooden pylons of the pier and pulled themselves out of the freezing water.
Elena collapsed onto the wet concrete, shivering uncontrollably.
"They tried to kill us," she whispered, coughing up salt water.
Mark stared at the burning wreckage of the yacht, his eyes dark with a deadly resolve.
"My father always tied up loose ends," Mark gritted through his teeth.
"He thinks we are dead now, which means we finally have the advantage."
They sneaked past the arriving fire trucks and hid in the shadows of a nearby alleyway.
Elena remembered something she had seen on the fake legal documents before Mark signed them.
"The papers had an address for a shell company in the financial district," she realized aloud.
Mark nodded, knowing exactly which building she was talking about.
It was the old Vance Tower, a skyscraper his father had supposedly abandoned a decade ago.
They stole a delivery van left idling near a diner and drove straight into the heart of the city.
The massive glass skyscraper loomed over them, completely dark except for a single illuminated floor near the top.
Mark bypassed the digital security lock on the service entrance using an old administrative code.
They climbed the dark emergency stairwell for what felt like an eternity.
When they finally reached the 40th floor, they carefully peeked through the heavy fire door.
The entire floor had been converted into a luxurious penthouse command center.
Sitting by the massive glass window was a gray-haired man in a wheelchair.
Arthur Vance turned his chair around, holding a terrified Billy gently in his lap.
Arthur looked directly at the fire door and smiled.
May you like
"I knew you would survive the boat, my boy," the old man said calmly.
He pressed a red button on his armrest, and a dozen red sniper lasers suddenly appeared on Mark's chest.
