Chapter 15 - The Drake Resurgence
"Step away from her, Julian," Adrian’s voice was a low, terrifying rumble as we stepped into the laboratory. He kept his weapon leveled directly between Julian's eyes. "The ship is surrounded. Your men on the deck are dead. Your divers have been neutralized. You're done."
Julian didn't even flinch at the sight of the gun. He casually set the syringe down on a steel tray and picked up a small, handheld detonator, resting his thumb lightly on the illuminated toggle switch.
"Always so primitive, Adrian," Julian sighed, shaking his head with theatrical disappointment. "You think in terms of bullets and turf. Like your brute of a father did. You run Chicago like a mob boss. I intended to run it like an emperor."
"Julian..." Clara’s voice was a faint, broken rasp from the gurney. Her gaze shifted to me, her eyes brimming with tears. "Sophie... run... please, baby, run..."
"I'm not running anymore, Mom," I said, stepping past Adrian's shoulder so Julian could look me in the eye. "Look at me, Julian. You poisoned her. You hid like a coward for sixteen years. And for what? For some sick, twisted god complex?"
Julian’s eyes locked onto mine, and for the first time, I saw the rot beneath his polished exterior. His eyes were bloodshot, pupils dilated with a manic, obsessive fever.
"Everything I did was for the Drake name!" Julian snapped, his voice rising in sudden, venomous fury. "Your grandfather was weak! He was going to sell our shipping lanes to the federal government! Clara was going to marry a nobody—some high school teacher—and taint the bloodline! I had to cleanse this family! I had to preserve our dominance!"
"By poisoning the woman who gave birth to me?" I spat, taking a calculated step forward. "By leaving me to wash dishes in a filthy diner while you played dead?"
"You survived, didn't you?" Julian chuckled darkly, gesturing at me with the detonator. "Look at you! You have the Drake spine! You killed my mercenary on the deck without flinching! You are my true creation, Sophie! Not that pathetic invalid on the table!"
"I am nothing like you," I snarled.
"Then you will die with her," Julian sneered, his thumb pressing down hard on the detonator toggle. "The charges beneath the intake tanks are armed. In thirty seconds, this ship sinks, the lake is poisoned, and I walk out of the harbor in my submarine pod while Adrian Voss takes the blame for the genocide of Chicago!"
*BEEP.*
A red alarm began to howl throughout the ship's hold.
"Now!" Adrian yelled.
Adrian fired. Julian twisted violently, the bullet tearing through his shoulder, but the impact sent him stumbling backward behind a bank of heavy, bulletproof server racks.
Before Adrian could pursue him, two hidden automated defense turrets deployed from the ceiling, their rotary barrels spinning up with an ear-splitting mechanical whine.
"Get down!" Adrian threw his entire body over mine as a hail of armor-piercing rounds shredded the laboratory, shattering glass vials, severing hydraulic lines, and sparking violently against the steel bulkheads.
Adrian grunted, a sharp gasp of pain escaping his lips as a ricochet tore through his upper thigh.
"Adrian!" I cried out, pressing my hands against his bleeding leg.
"I’m fine! Destroy the turret relay!" he choked out, pointing his weapon toward an exposed electrical junction box sparking beneath the ceiling.
I didn't hesitate. I rolled out from beneath Adrian's protective bulk, raised my pistol with both hands, and emptied the remaining four rounds into the junction box.
The box exploded in a shower of blue sparks. The automated turrets died with a low, dying whine, their barrels smoking.
I rushed to the gurney, whipping out my tactical knife to slash through the leather straps binding my mother’s wrists and ankles.
"Mom! Can you hear me? Can you stand?"
Clara fell into my arms, weeping, her trembling fingers clutching at my tactical vest. "Sophie... my brave girl... you came for me..."
"Always," I whispered, holding her tight against my heart. "You're safe now."
"Sophie! Look out!" Adrian roared from the floor.
I whipped around. Julian was scrambling toward the rear pressure hatch leading to the vessel’s escape pod bay, clutching his bleeding shoulder, his face twisted in a mask of pure, unadulterated hatred.
"You haven't won!" Julian shrieked, slamming his palm against the emergency seal button. "The city council belongs to me! The mayor belongs to me! When the sun rises, Adrian Voss will be branded a terrorist, and every cop in Illinois will hunt you both down like dogs!"
The heavy pressure hatch slammed shut, locking with a pneumatic hiss. Seconds later, a deep mechanical rumble resonated through the hull as the escape pod launched into the icy depths of Lake Michigan.
The ship groaned beneath our feet, tilting three degrees to port. Water was already rushing into the lower ballast compartments from the activated scuttling charges.
"We have to move!" Adrian grunted, hauling himself to his feet using the edge of the server rack, his face pale from blood loss. "The ship is sinking!"
I slung my mother’s arm over my shoulder, wrapping my other arm around Adrian's waist to support his weight. Together, through the rising water and the smoke-filled corridors, we fought our way up the ladders and out onto the open deck just as the sirens of Adrian's backup fleet pierced the snowy night.
As Adrian’s men swarmed the deck to lift Clara onto a stretcher, Adrian pulled me close against his chest. His heartbeat was rapid, powerful, and real.
"Julian escaped," I said, watching the dark, churning water where the pod had vanished, the lights of the Chicago skyline gleaming coldly across the bay. "And he has the city's leaders in his pocket."
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Adrian reached up, his blood-stained fingers cupping my jaw, his silver eyes flashing with a promise of absolute vengeance.
"Let him run to the mayor," Adrian murmured, his voice sending a shiver of raw power down my spine. "Tomorrow, we stop playing defense. Tomorrow, Sophie Drake... we take this city back."