Chapter 66 - Flight into the Tempest
Daniel didn't hesitate. He scooped Julian into his chest, locked an arm around Leo's waist, and threw them both across the three-meter gap between the collapsing rig platform and the dreadnought’s reinforced bow deck.
They hit the rubberized steel plate hard, skidding across the wet surface as Vance’s operators lunged forward, grabbing Daniel's tactical harness to drag them clear.
Behind them, Platform Null-Seven surrendered to the North Sea. The main support pillar fractured with a sound like a thunderclap. Thousands of tons of burning machinery, helipads, and drilling derricks folded in on themselves, plunging into the black water in a catastrophic vortex of boiling steam and rising fireballs.
Above the wreckage, the damaged gunship—with Subject Four still trapped inside—veered sharply north, its burning turbine trailing an orange scar across the midnight storm clouds.
"She's retreating toward the Arctic corridor," Vance coughed, spitting dark blood onto the deck as a medic rushed toward him. "The primary transponder is locked on Svalbard Sector Zero."
Daniel stood up, his body trembling with pure adrenaline and exhaustion. He checked Leo, running his hands over the boy’s head and ribs, then turned to Julian, whose breathing had finally stabilized back to normal.
"You have ten seconds to tell me the truth, Vance," Daniel said, his voice deadly calm as he drew Vance’s own backup knife from the man's harness and pressed the cold point against his throat. "Or I toss you into the screws of this submarine."
The operators around them raised their weapons, but Vance held up a blood-slicked hand, ordering them to stand down.
"You think you're Daniel Sterling, private wealth manager, former military contractor," Vance whispered, staring directly into Daniel’s eyes with an expression of profound, chilling pity. "You think you adopted Leo. You think your bride tricked you at an altar in Manhattan."
"I know what happened," Daniel snarled, pressing the blade deeper until a bead of crimson formed on Vance's skin.
"No, Daniel," Vance murmured. "You know what was written into your partition. Why do you think your biometric key unlocked the Black Forest bunker? Why do you think Julian’s genetic code matches yours by ninety-nine point nine percent? Why do you think you survived the gas in Zurich?"
Leo walked over, his little hand coming to rest on Daniel’s wrist. The boy looked up, his eyes clear and impossibly ancient.
May you like
"Dad," Leo whispered softly. "Put the knife down. He's not the enemy. He's the custodian."
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