Chapter 45 - The Funicular of Shadows
We broke into a ragged run, ignoring the burning agony in our muscles as we cleared the final flight of iron stairs.
The staircase ended at a heavy bulkhead door that had been kicked violently open, its lock shattered by a close-range blast.
Beyond lay the circular observation deck of the mountaintop station, surrounded by panoramic glass panels overlooking the Swiss Alps.
Outside, a blinding blizzard raged, whiteout winds howling against the reinforced glass at eighty miles an hour.
Inside, the room was a catastrophe of overturned scientific equipment, smashed radio transceivers, and flickering monitors.
In the center of the room, illuminated by the harsh blue glow of a satellite uplink console, Eleanor knelt in a pool of dark blood.
Her left shoulder was ruined, shredded by a point-blank gunshot wound that had soaked her cashmere coat in crimson.
Arthur stood ten feet away from her, an encrypted military laptop strapped to the main uplink terminal, typing furiously.
"Arthur, please!" Eleanor sobbed, clutching her bleeding arm as she crawled across the linoleum toward him. "You said we were partners!"
"A partner brings value, Eleanor," Arthur said coldly, not even looking up from the lines of green code scrolling down the screen.
"I gave you Clara! I gave you the child’s clinic records!" Eleanor screamed, tears and mascara running down her pale, frantic face.
"And you failed to secure the asset," Arthur replied, his voice chillingly devoid of any human empathy.
He raised his ceremonial revolver without pausing his typing, aiming casually at his own daughter’s forehead.
"You are a liability, Eleanor," Arthur whispered. "And liabilities are liquidated."
"Arthur!" Clara shouted, stepping into the room with her weapon raised, leveling the barrel squarely at her father's chest.
Arthur’s hand froze above the laptop keyboard, his silver eyebrows arching in genuine, condescending surprise.
"Clara," Arthur said softly, lowering the revolver slightly to look at the daughter he had hunted across two continents. "You survived."
"Step away from that console, Father," Clara ordered, her hands steady as iron despite the freezing howling of the blizzard.
Eleanor turned her tear-streaked face toward Clara, a sickening mixture of humiliation and desperate hope flashing in her eyes.
"Clara... he played us both," Eleanor choked out, coughing weakly as blood bubbled at the corner of her lips.
"Be quiet, Eleanor," Arthur snapped, his eyes never leaving Clara and the baby bundle strapped to her chest.
"The uplink is at eighty-two percent," Arthur said, gesturing smoothly toward the glowing progress bar on the satellite monitor.
"You won't live to see it reach one hundred," I said, moving to Arthur’s flank with my combat knife drawn and ready.
May you like
"If you shoot me, the failsafe triggers," Arthur said, tapping the silver ring on his pinky finger against the laptop chassis.
"The failsafe doesn't just transfer the funds, Clara," Arthur smiled, his teeth gleaming like predatory fangs. "It erases you."
