Chapter 10 - The Desperate Trap
As the federal marshals dragged Julian down the grand staircase toward the waiting transport vans, his eyes darted with frantic, wild madness. He suddenly jerked his body violently to the right, slamming his shoulder into the lead marshal and diving over the polished brass railing into the dark marina below.
A resounding splash echoed across the harbor as Julian hit the black, churning water beneath the dock. Federal sirens began to wail along the coastline, searchlights crisscrossing the turbulent surface as tactical officers drew their sidearms.
"Hold your fire!" I commanded my security detail, walking calmly down the wooden ramp toward the private boat slip where The Golden Sovereign was tied. "He has nowhere to run; the harbor entrance is completely blocked by Vanguard maritime patrol vessels."
Beneath the shadows of the wooden pilings, Julian surfaced, coughing up saltwater and gasping for air as he struggled against the heavy weight of his wet tuxedo. He scrambled onto the rear swim platform of a small maintenance tender, his eyes wild with animal panic as he spotted a heavy iron flare gun in the emergency locker.
He pointed the flare gun directly at my chest as I stepped onto the edge of the dock, his hand shaking with homicidal desperation. "Stay back, Lucas! I swear to God I'll blow your chest open! You ruined my life, you destroyed everything I built!"
"You built nothing, Julian," I said, taking a steady, unhurried step onto the swim platform without a single flicker of fear in my eyes. "You were an empty parasite feeding on the sweat of a boy who worked eighteen hours a day while you slept on silk sheets."
"My father was right about you!" Julian shrieked, tears mixing with the salty spray on his cheeks. "You were always a dirty little stray dog who thought he could run his way into high society!"
"A stray dog that now owns every breath you take," I said, closing the distance between us in a fraction of a second. Before Julian could pull the heavy trigger, I drove my left hand forward, clamping onto his wrist with crushing force and twisting the flare gun upward.
The flare discharged with a deafening roar, rocketing a brilliant crimson fireball high into the stormy night sky, illuminating the entire harbor in blood-red brilliance. With a single, fluid pivot, I drove my right elbow into Julian's jaw, shattering his nose and sending him crashing onto the fiberglass deck.
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He lay there on his back, bleeding and groaning in the rain, completely defeated and broken beneath the crimson glow of the fading flare. I stood over him, my breathing steady, my coat untouched by the spray, looking down at the pitiful wreck of my family's golden idol.
"Your race is over, Julian," I said softly, as four federal agents boarded the vessel to secure the prisoner with heavy chains. "And you didn't even make it across the finish line."
