Chapter 17 - The Traitor's Face
The heavy steel elevator doors hissed open at the far end of the atrium, accompanied by a dozen elite heavily armed mercenaries wearing advanced tactical armor.
Walking confidently behind the wall of soldiers was a man I recognized instantly.
It was Admiral Thomas Vance.
The very man who had supposedly saved me in the Virginia courtroom, the man who had ordered me to ignore the photograph, was the supreme architect of the entire treasonous operation.
The courtroom intervention hadn't been a rescue; it had been a calculated move to secure the farmhouse aquifer for his own syndicate after the local police Chief had botched the job.
Vance looked across the room at Lewis and me, a cold, arrogant smirk plastered across his aging face.
He casually applauded my resourcefulness, stating that he was genuinely impressed I had survived the Berlin ambush and infiltrated his most secure facility.
He explained that true global power didn't belong to governments or flags; it belonged to those who controlled the flow of unregulated capital and classified data.
He had spent a decade building a shadow empire, selling American secrets to the highest bidders, and using rural domestic properties to launder the staggering profits.
Lewis and I took cover behind a massive, reinforced steel server console as Vance’s men fanned out across the room, adopting aggressive flanking positions.
Vance ordered us to surrender, promising a quick and painless execution in exchange for our compliance.
Lewis looked at me, a fierce, familiar fire burning in his eyes.
We had fought out of impossible ambushes together in Fallujah and Helmand Province, and we communicated entirely without words.
I checked my ammunition, feeling the familiar, icy calm of combat precision wash over my panic.
We weren't going to surrender, and we certainly weren't going to die in a frozen basement.
I pulled two fragmentation grenades from my tactical belt and armed them both.
I whispered the countdown to Lewis.
On the mark, I hurled the grenades over the server racks toward the advancing tactical teams, while Lewis simultaneously laid down a highly accurate blanket of suppressive fire.
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The grenades detonated with earth-shattering force, shredding the front line of mercenaries and plunging the entire atrium into total, chaotic darkness as the primary lighting systems violently short-circuited.
It was time to introduce the Admiral to the deadly consequences of betraying his own soldiers.
