Chapter 13 - Blood on the Steel Gantry
The sea surged violently beneath the hull of the *Prometheus*, lifting the submersible four feet on a crest of black water before slamming it against the bumper pylons.
Arthur stumbled across the wet deck of the escape craft, catching his balance against the curved conning tower as he fumbled with the exterior hatch wheel.
Daniel did not hesitate; he leaped from the catwalk railing, plummeting through fifteen feet of empty air and driving rain.
He landed hard on the curved composite deck of the submersible, the impact sending a shockwave of agony through his ankles and wounded arm.
The titanium briefcase skittered across the wet deck, wedging itself tightly between the conning tower ladder and the steel mooring cable.
Arthur spun around with a guttural roar, drawing a small, snub-nosed revolver from inside his leather holster.
Before Arthur could level the barrel, Daniel struck with savage precision, slapping the gun barrel outward just as the weapon discharged.
The supersonic crack of the gunshot was swallowed instantly by the roaring tempest, the bullet ricocheting harmlessly off the ship's steel hull into the ocean.
Daniel grabbed Arthur’s wrist with both hands, twisting the joint backward with relentless, mechanical leverage until the weapon dropped into the churning waves.
Arthur screamed in fury and drove his forehead straight into the bridge of Daniel’s nose.
Cartilage cracked, and Daniel’s vision exploded in stars of red and black as blinding pain shot through his skull.
Stumbling backward, Daniel’s heel caught on the edge of the low deck rail, nearly pitching him over the side into the deadly propeller wash between the hulls.
Arthur lunged forward, his heavy hands closing around Daniel’s throat with suffocating, lethal pressure.
"I should have drowned you in the cradle the day you were born!" Arthur snarled, his eyes bulging with psychotic intensity as he pressed Daniel backward over the abyss.
"Your father had everything—the family name, the respect of the board, the admiration of the world—while I was treated like an expendable shadow!"
Daniel struggled to draw breath, his lungs burning as Arthur’s thumbs bore deep into his trachea.
The digital clock on Daniel's wrist watch, synchronized to the bridge telemetry, flashed with terrifying urgency: **01:30... 01:29...**
High above on the gantry, Maya leaned over the safety railing, observing the mortal struggle playing out on the rolling deck of the submersible.
"Mr. Vance, grab the crane hoist cable!" Maya screamed at the top of her lungs, pointing toward a heavy braided steel line dangling four feet above the hatch.
Daniel heard her through the roaring vacuum of his oxygen-starved brain.
Instead of fighting Arthur's grip with his hands, Daniel stopped struggling against the chokehold and allowed his upper body to tilt further backward over the water.
Arthur, expecting resistance, leaned his entire forward weight into the push, fully committed to hurling Daniel into the churning propellers.
In that split second, Daniel reached upward with his uninjured left arm, catching the heavy steel hook of the dangling crane hoist line.
With a violent burst of adrenaline, Daniel coiled his legs and kicked both boots directly into Arthur’s midsection while pulling himself up on the cable.
Arthur’s grip was violently ripped from Daniel’s throat as the force of the kick sent the older man stumbling backward across the slippery deck.
Daniel pulled himself upright, planting his feet firmly on the fiberglass hull while holding the heavy steel hoist hook in his left hand.
Arthur scrambled back to his feet, panting heavily, his face pale with sudden, terrifying realization.
"Daniel... listen to me," Arthur gasped, his voice suddenly shifting into a desperate, groveling plea as he backed toward the open hatch.
"We are the last two Vances left on this earth!"
"There is four hundred million dollars in that briefcase; we can split the offshore trusts fifty-fifty!"
"We can tell the authorities that Julian Mercer was the sole mastermind behind the entire conspiracy!"
"You can have the company, the fortune, the prestige... everything you ever wanted!"
Daniel wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his sleeve, staring at the monster who had destroyed his family with absolute, unyielding disgust.
"My father taught me that a man's honor is not something that can be bought with blood money or traded in offshore dummy corporations," Daniel said softly.
"And my mother taught me to never let an animal walk away after it tries to destroy my family."
Arthur’s face twisted in desperate rage, and he lunged toward the titanium briefcase to retrieve the emergency fail-safe remote.
Daniel swung the heavy iron hoist hook like a pendulum, striking Arthur cleanly across the knees with crushing momentum.
Arthur shrieked in agony as his legs collapsed beneath him, dropping heavily onto the wet fiberglass deck beside the conning tower.
Before Arthur could move, Daniel stepped over him, planting his boot firmly on Arthur’s chest and pinning him flat against the deck.
Daniel snatched the titanium briefcase, along with the master security keycard dangling from Arthur’s neck chain, ripping the lanyard away in a single swift motion.
High above them on the bridge wing, Maya shouted through the industrial megaphone:
"Mr. Vance! The automated countdown is down to sixty seconds! You have to swipe that keycard into the auxiliary terminal on the gantry!"
"Daniel, please!" Arthur sobbed, clawing uselessly at Daniel’s boot as the cold Atlantic rain beat down upon his broken body.
"Don't leave me down here to burn!"
Daniel looked down at the architect of his father’s murder with cold, pitiless eyes.
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"You chose this grave ten years ago in Zurich, Arthur," Daniel said coldly.
"Now you get to lie in it."
