Chapter 28 - The Ghost Ship
The freezing Maine rain hit us like a physical blow as we burst through the back door of the burning hunting lodge, plunging headfirst into the dense underbrush of the forest. Behind us, the roar of the fire mingled with the deafening chop of the extraction helicopter hovering above the clearing.
"This way!" Adrien shouted, pulling me through a narrow ravine choked with ferns and mud. "The emergency ATV trail leads down to the rocky cove. There's an old lobster boat moored there."
I clutched Julian tightly to my chest, shielding his face from the stinging rain and wind with my coat. Every breath burned in my lungs as we scrambled down the steep, slippery slope, the red glow of the burning lodge casting giant, dancing shadows against the dark pine trees behind us.
We broke through the tree line onto a narrow, secluded rocky beach where the dark, restless waves of the Atlantic crashed against the jagged shore. Bobbing gently in the rough water was a sturdy, weather-beaten lobster boat, its diesel engine already idling with a low, rhythmic thrum.
"Get in!" Adrien ordered, lifting me over the gunwale and helping me down into the small, sheltered cabin of the vessel. He quickly untied the mooring lines, leaped aboard, and slammed the throttle forward.
The boat surged away from the shore just as a blinding searchlight from Viktor’s helicopter swept across the beach we had just left. The chopper hovered over the burning ruins of the lodge, its massive rotors kicking up a hurricane of spray and debris, but the darkness of the open cove swallowed our small vessel before they could spot us.
Inside the tiny cabin, the smell of diesel and salt water was thick and comforting. I sat on the narrow bench seat, finally letting out a long, shuddering sigh as I unwrapped Julian. He opened his eyes, let out a soft, contented coo, and immediately latched onto my finger with his tiny hand.
"Are you alright?" Adrien asked, his hands steady on the wooden wheel as he navigated the boat out past the breakers into the deep, dark waters of the open ocean.
"I'm shaking," I admitted, my voice trembling as the adrenaline finally began to fade, leaving a deep, bone-weary exhaustion in its wake. "Adrien... where are we going? Viktor has the whole coast locked down. The airports, the highways, the ports—they'll be watching everything."
"That's why we aren't going to a port," Adrien said, his eyes fixed on the horizon where the first pale streaks of dawn were beginning to pierce the heavy storm clouds. "We're heading offshore to meet someone who doesn't answer to Viktor Laurent or the Vance empire."
"Who?" I asked, frowning.
May you like
Before Adrien could answer, the low, powerful thrum of twin turbine engines echoed from the dark water ahead. Rising out of the mist like a phantom ship, a sleek, matte-grey naval cutter cut through the waves, its deck lights flashing a silent, coded welcome.
***
