Chapter 6 - The Ultimatum
The caption beneath the photo of my bleeding attorney made my stomach turn.
"You thought you could trick us with fake intel?" the message read.
"Bring the real hard drive from the Alpha Vault to the old shipyard by midnight."
"If you involve the police or your soldiers, Mark dies."
They had realized my file was a trap and retaliated faster than I had anticipated.
The Alpha Vault held the most sensitive operational data in the entire Pentagon, including actual identities of our foreign assets.
I had to make a choice between saving an innocent man's life or protecting national security.
I stood up, adjusting my uniform, and walked directly toward the underground vault.
I was the base commander, meaning I had unrestricted access to the secure data servers.
I swiped my badge, entered my biometric data, and stepped into the freezing server room.
I located the red hard drive containing the European asset roster and pulled it from the rack.
As I turned to leave, the heavy steel door of the vault hissed shut, locking from the outside.
The security lights flashed red, indicating a complete facility lockdown.
"Put the drive back, Colonel," a voice echoed through the intercom.
I looked up at the security camera in the corner of the room.
General Vance stood on the other side of the reinforced glass observation window.
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He was flanked by four heavily armed military police officers with their weapons drawn and aimed at my chest.
"You are under arrest for espionage, financial fraud, and attempting to steal classified data," Vance announced.
