Chapter 58 - The Unmasking of the Republic
Claire stepped over Vance-Cross’s broken body, carrying Maya toward the emergency exit ramp, her eyes darting to the massive telemetry displays.
The screen didn't show missile coordinates. It showed a massive data leak.
*“Operation Obsidian: Full Archive Broadcast,”* the glowing red text read. *“Global Distribution: 84% Complete.”*
“Shaw’s launch was never meant to hit a city…” Vance-Cross laughed weakly from the floor, his teeth coated in crimson. “It was a diversion… to force the Pentagon to open the secure satellite uplinks! The moment Vance tapped into the emergency DEFCON network to track you, our malware breached the central servers!”
Claire paused on the catwalk, Maya clinging tightly to her neck.
“Every black operation,” Vance-Cross wheezed, his eyes feverish with madness. “Every illegal assassination… every offshore bank account used to bribe senators, foreign prime ministers, and generals… including your mother’s signatures… including William’s real mission report! In five minutes, the entire United States defense apparatus will be laid bare before every hostile nation on earth! The country will tear itself apart from the inside out!”
Down in the water, the black carbon-fiber submersible suddenly hummed to life. Two figures in tactical gear surfaced inside the craft, their weapons trained up at the catwalk.
A voice roared over the cavern’s loudspeakers: *“Claire! Get down!”*
A heavy .50-caliber sniper round tore through the ventilation ducts near the ceiling, obliterating the canopy of the submersible in an explosion of polycarbonate glass.
Claire looked up. Perched on an industrial gantry sixty feet above the dry dock was Jax, his chest wrapped tightly in blood-soaked surgical bandages, his pale face covered in sweat, but his hands steady on an anti-materiel sniper rifle. Behind him, rappelling down through the shattered exhaust shafts, were Marcus and four elite operators from JSOC’s Black Vanguard.
“Uncle Jax!” Maya cried out.
Jax gave a ragged, bloody smirk from the rafters. “Told you I wouldn't miss the party, kiddo.”
Marcus hit the catwalk running, his rifle up, immediately securing the perimeter around Claire and Maya. He knelt down, his eyes scanning Maya for injuries. “She intact?”
“She’s safe,” Claire said, handing Maya to Marcus. “Get the C4 off her chest. Use the non-magnetic shears in my kit. Now.”
Marcus went to work with ice in his veins, slicing through the duct tape and lifting the explosive brick away from Maya’s sweater, tossing it carefully into the deep water below.
Claire turned back to the glowing consoles. The upload bar was climbing rapidly: *89%... 90%... 91%...*
“We can’t shut down the mainframe locally,” Marcus said, glancing at the screens while holding Maya. “The server hub is routed through a secondary relay outside the country. If that data finishes uploading, the Sterling name won't just be ruined—every deep-cover operative in JSOC will be hunted down and murdered before sunrise.”
Claire walked toward the primary control terminal.
“There is one way to cut the global uplink,” Claire said quietly.
May you like
Marcus froze, his face going completely pale. “Claire, no. Don't you dare.”
***
