Chapter 39 - The Black Tide
A massive wall of black, freezing lake water erupted from the drainage culvert near the ceiling, crashing down like a hammer.
The impact knocked Vance across the floor, pinning him against the bottom rung of the metal ladder.
The water level in the chamber surged upward violently, rising from their ankles to their waists in a matter of seconds.
"Vance!" Arthur screamed, fighting against the powerful current to reach the injured detective.
Arthur grabbed Vance by the collar of his tactical vest, hauling him upright against the iron staircase.
"Get up the ladder!" Arthur shouted over the deafening roar of the pouring deluge. "Get out of here!"
"Not without you, Arthur!" Vance coughed, spitting out a mouthful of freezing, stagnant water.
Arthur looked back across the churning pool.
Eleanor was clinging desperately to the handles of the central steel safe, the rising water already reaching her chest.
Her face was twisted into a hideous mask of desperation, her fingers clawing futilely at the keypad.
"It won't open!" she wailed into the roaring dark. "Arthur! The code! Give me the override code!"
"There is no code, Eleanor!" Arthur shouted across the rising tide, his voice carrying twenty years of buried pain.
Eleanor froze, the water lapping against her chin as she stared at Arthur with suddenly widening eyes.
"What did you say?" she gasped, her voice barely audible over the rush of the lake water.
"My father figured you out before he died," Arthur yelled, stepping onto the first rung of the escape ladder.
"The safe is empty," Arthur said, his words striking her harder than any bullet ever could. "He moved the bonds to an offshore trust twenty years ago."
Eleanor let out a bloodcurdling scream of pure rage, releasing her grip on the safe and lunging through the water toward the stairs.
"I gave you my life!" she shrieked, splashing frantically against the swirling whirlpool. "I gave you thirty years, Arthur!"
The water level hit the ceiling of the drainage pipe, creating a violent vacuum that pulled everything in the room toward the culvert.
The rusted iron support beams overhead began to shriek, warping under the immense weight of the lake pressing down above them.
"Arthur, move!" Vance roared from the top of the ladder, reaching down with his uninjured hand. "The entire floor is collapsing!"
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Arthur reached up, grasping Vance’s outstretched wrist just as the concrete beneath their feet gave way with a deafening crack.
***
