Chapter 7 - The Architect of Lies
Silas Vance looked exactly as Rex remembered his grandfather.
He had silver hair and a sharp jawline and eyes that held zero warmth.
"Hello, Arthur," Silas smiled as he rested the detonator on his knee.
"You look terrible."
Hale leaned heavily against Rex and his face twisted in absolute disgust.
"You always were a coward, Silas," Hale spat.
Silas chuckled with a dry raspy sound that echoed in the armory.
"I am a pragmatist," Silas corrected smoothly.
"Your son was weak and your vision for the Silver Hawks was outdated."
Rex stepped forward and raised his rifle to aim it directly between Silas’s eyes.
"Where is my father?" Rex growled with his finger resting heavily on the trigger.
Silas looked at his grandson with a look of mild disappointment.
"You always had his temper," Silas sighed.
"Your father chose the wrong side just like you are doing right now."
Rex’s heart hammered against his ribs.
"Did you kill him?" Rex asked as his voice broke for the first time.
Silas did not answer the question directly.
Instead he held up the detonator.
"This armory is rigged with enough explosives to turn this mountain into a crater," Silas warned.
"Drop the weapons or we all burn together."
Betty slowly lowered her pistol but her eyes never left Silas’s hands.
Rex reluctantly tossed his rifle to the concrete floor.
"Good boy," Silas mocked.
Suddenly the heavy vault door behind them began to glow bright orange.
Miller’s mercenaries were using a thermal lance to cut through the steel.
They had less than two minutes before the door gave way.
"What is your play here?" Hale asked while clutching his bleeding side.
"I want the master encryption key to the global network," Silas demanded.
"Give it to me and I will let your grandson live."
Silas pointed at Rex.
"He isn't my grandson," Hale said proudly.
"He is his own man."
Silas sneered and pressed a button on a remote.
A heavy iron door at the back of the tunnel slid open.
Two heavily armored guards dragged a beaten and bloody man into the light.
Rex gasped and dropped to his knees.
It was his father John who was alive but barely holding on.
"Give me the key or I end the Vance bloodline forever," Silas threatened as he pressed a gun to John’s head.
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Before Hale could speak John weakly lifted his head and looked at Rex.
"Don't let him have it," John whispered and then he lunged directly onto Silas’s gun.
